Alibi
by Faith.l
Summary: Everything about her seemed to be a perfect combination of opposites that not only coexisted, but completed each other, forming one of the most intriguing personalities he had ever met. Shannon knew that she wouldn't reveal herself completely and that was why he was so interested. Shannon Leto, Jared Leto, Emma Ludbrook.
1. Mistakes

When she realized it, Melany was already standing at the door with her hands deep on her pockets and not a clue about what she was going to do next. Jared has never been rude to her before, but he had made it clear, on his own way, that it would be best for her to spend some time away. She understood that and even agreed with it, but she didn't know how to stay away from the one thing that made sense in her life at that moment. They needed to stop fighting, it had gone off the limits already. There were a lot of things that she wanted to say to him and he needed to listen. She took a step closer, took a deep breath and, holding the air inside her lungs, she rang the bell.

Jared opened the door automatically, at the same time looking at his phone and talking to Emma, who was sitting on the arms of the couch by the living room. He took a few seconds to look up from his phone and stare at Melany with astonishment. The room fell quiet while they looked at each other not knowing what to say, and Emma got up with a worried look on her face, thinking about the mess that was about to happen.

"What are you doing here?" He glanced at the night behind her and both sides of the street with a vaguely worried expression, but still standing between her and the door, blocking her way in.

Melany realized how stupid she was by going there, closed her sweaty hands in fists inside her coat and started to look from Jared to Emma, not being able to think of anything to say. "I..." That moment did not last more than a few seconds, but it seemed to take forever until the silence was broken by someone slamming a door right beneath them and the sound of steps coming up slowly.

"Mel!" Shannon was holding some wires on his hands and he was smiling at her by the stairs. "Come, I'll show you the video that I was talking about." She smiled with relief and got inside the house, passing through Jared, who was looking at his brother with distrust. "Oh, Jared, I'm sorry, I guess I forgot to mention" Shannon put his hand on her shoulder, "I asked Mel to come hang out and watch some videos, I wanted to show her some stuff."

Jared didn't answer, he made a long face and closed the door softly, grabbing Emma by the arm and pushing her back to the living room so they could continue their previous conversation. Still smiling at her, Shannon took Melany upstairs with his hand placed on her waist. "Don't mind the mess, you can sit anywhere" he said, closing the door and sitting himself on a big chair next to his bed.

Embarrassed, Melany sat on the edge of the unmade bed and buried her head on her knees, hugging his legs and wishing to be anywhere but here. "Mel, are you crazy?" Shannon asked tenderly, stroking her hair.

"No..." She spoke in a hushed voice. "I don't know what went through my head, I don't know." She lifted her body and slowly straightened up better in bed, "do not rub it in my face that I fucked up, okay? I already know that you need not tell me." He smiled.

"You're lucky that I went to look for these wires in the studio," he pointed at the tangled cables that he had placed on the table, "and I realized the shit you were doing and acted fast to help you."

"I know," she smiled back. "Thank you. I don't know why you wanted to help me, but thanks. "

"What do you mean?" He narrowed his eyes.

She shrugged, "well, you don't know me at all, do you? And he is your brother, what reason do you have to stay on my side?"

"I like having you here for a change. And, despite your fights, I know how much you and Jared love and care for each other…"

"Shannon…" She closed her eyes and lowered her head.

"Mel," he reached out and took her hand, and she sighed and looked back at him. "You and Jared are two stubborn idiots who love each other and will never be ok with being away from each other. Believe me, I know the difference you make in his life."

"So tell him that, because apparently he doesn't even want to hear my name!"

Shannon laughed and ruffled her hair. "I know my brother, sweetie, he is suffering as much as you are. Pretty soon everything will go back to normal, you only need to distract yourself in the meantime."

Melany giggled and shook her head, "I thought you didn't like me much, you know?"

He made a funny face and started to scroll on his phone, "nonsense. My brother monopolizes you so much, you need to breathe a little." She didn't answer and he looked up, curious. Melany was swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, biting her lips and staring at the floor, considering what he had just said. He smiled, understanding perfectly why Jared liked her so much, and at the same time why they fought so much.

"Well," he stood up, picking up some papers off the table. Melany looked at him curiously. "I still have some stuff to finish in the studio, it may take some time. Will you be ok in here?"

"Oh no, Shannon, I wasn't planning on spending the night here, I can go home."

"You live on the other side of town, I won't let you go out at this hour! Get comfortable, take a shower, you can wear one of my shirts to sleep, if you want to."

"But what about you?"

"I'll sleep in the guest room, don't worry. You're my guest today, I insist that you stay here, alright?"

Melany smiled and nodded. "If Jared…"

"Don't worry about him, I'll talk to Emma, he won't come up." Shannon sat down beside her. "Hey, come here," he said, pulling her into a hug. He was expecting her to resist a little, so he was surprised when she buried her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just promise me you won't go after him!"

Melany laughed and agreed. "Thank you, Shannon."

He smiled back and left the room.

She was almost falling asleep when she heard a light knock and then the sound of the door opening. By instinct, she closed her eyed and curled under the blankets, pretending to be asleep and praying it wasn't Jared entering the room.

"Mel, are you awake? It's Emma." Melany took a breath relieved to hear that voice and lifted her head a little. When she saw that Emma was alone, she sat on the bed and motioned for the woman to enter.

"What a mess, huh?" She said while the other sat next to her.

"Not so much, Shannon saved your ass." Melany shook her head in doubt. "No, really! It was a terrible lie, but Jared believed it."

"Hm, hopefully. I just hope I haven't caused too much trouble for you or Shannon."

"We're used to it," Emma answered with a shrug. "But I don't think he realized that you're still here, so be careful tomorrow, okay?" Melany nodded.

Since Jared had brought her to Los Angeles, Melany hadn't made many friends. In fact, she had agreed to go there just because of him, and he knew it. Their relationship has always been complicated and undefined in some level, which always ended up resulting in fights and arguments. They had met long ago at a party hosted by some mutual friends; he, at the time best known for his performances rather than his music, she, surrounded by the hype caused by the release of her first book, both relatively new to fame. The attraction was immediate, and they ended up spending eight months together, having sex most of the time. They decided to go separate ways because they'd realize they didn't know the first thing about each other and recognized it had lasted long enough. Two years later they met again and promised to try and get to know one another, what quickly became an increasingly intense and less colorful friendship. The problem, Melany often thought, was that they had created a very strong mutual affection, loving each other like brother and sister. And maybe because of everything they had lived together, both of them thought to be in the position to demand explanations and control each other's lives, which never ended up well.

Melany was going through serious problems in New York when Jared went to visit her and took her back with him to Los Angeles for what would be a new beginning. He was willing to help her, but she recognized she made things more difficult for him. She wasn't very social, she was always avoiding leaving the house and when Jared managed to drag her to any party, she would always find a way to leave without him noticing. The only person who was able to get close to her, and by whom Melany had a little sympathy, was Emma. Perhaps it was because Jared made his assistant as nervous as he did her, but they had a lot to talk about. It was always a delight to talk to Emma.

"You scared me when you appeared by the door, Mel. You should have told me you were thinking of coming here, I would have…"

"Made me change my mind?" Emma nodded. Melany sighed, feeling tired. "But tell me, on a scale of zero to ten, how much is he hating me?"

"He's not hating you and you damn well know it. But you scared the hell out of us last week, you know."

Melany lowered her head in agreement. "I don't know what to say, Emma. This is the worst part, I can't even think of an excuse for the things I've done!"

"You don't have to come up with excuses, you have to take responsibility, apologize to Jared and get hold of yourself once and for all. You know, he doesn't hate you and I think he will never be able to, but he's pretty upset with you. It is very sad to see him like that, you can tell when he's thinking about you… it's sad."

Melany had nothing to say, she just nodded and hugged her knees, wishing this was over and that Jared and she could go back to being the best friends that they were before, no heart feelings. Emma smiled and hugged her with affection.

"Be grateful for Shannon being here today and get some rest, alright? I'll spend the night at the house too, in case any of you do something stupid. Tomorrow's a new day, honey, try to relax, okay?"

She smiled, thanking Emma, and waited for her to leave the room to turn to the other side, lifting the covers up to her neck. She slept in less than five minutes.


	2. Anger

In the middle of the night, Shannon had returned to his room on the pretext of picking up a few things he had left there, but really wanting to take a look at Melany, to make sure she was okay. She was ten years younger, but he thought of her as a little girl, did not quite understand why. They didn't know each other that well because, even though she was always around, Melany spend all of her time with Jared. Not that it was entirely her fault, in spite of her never caring much for conversation, Jared was the one who dragged her with him everywhere. She was never at the house if he wasn't there; if they weren't together, she was somewhere else that Shannon ignored. He honestly did not understand what was happening between them, he knew they had dated for a while, and that Jared had a great affection for her, everything else was weird. When his brother appeared with her in Los Angeles two months ago, Shannon assumed that they were dating again, but soon after that he realized he was wrong. And the more he watched Melany, the more he got curious to know who that girl really was.

Her face was mostly covered, but he could see her eyes, and they were quiet, unlike the expression that they often took when Melany was awake. Shannon found himself smiling as he looked at her and nodded, bending down to pick up a sweatshirt that was propped in the chair beside the bed. Pulling his coat, he heard a soft thud and stooped to pick up whatever it was from the floor – her phone. He stood for a few moments holding it, thinking of taking it with him to the other room, maybe give an innocent look at some photos and texts. He already had his hand on the doorknob when he stopped again and turned back, a little embarrassed by his curiosity.

* * *

Melany woke up a bit confused by an alarm clock that she was not sure she had set up. She was a little disoriented until she remembered where she was and what had happened the night before. Her stomach sank a little as soon as her memory came back. She picked up the phone that was in the chair next to her and turned off the alarm, seeing it was six o'clock in the morning. "What?" She was trying to remember if she had any appointment at that time, when she noticed a piece of paper placed underneath the phone.

"1 - Good morning!

2 – Don't kill me for alarm.

3 - Meet me in the kitchen.

- Shann "

"Huh?" She didn't know whether to laugh or to get worried about that, but decided to get out of bed anyway, stopped by the bathroom to brush her teeth and left the room carefully. She was still wearing the shorts from the night before and one of Shannon's old shirts. Going down the stairs barefoot, she pulled her hair back in a careless bum. When she entered the kitchen, she got face to face with him on the other side of the counter, messy hair and white shirt with a faded pattern, putting some toasts on a plate. Shannon looked up and grinned when he saw her, "ah! Glad you took the note seriously. Not mad at me for setting up the alarm?"

"No." Melany said rubbing her eyes, "I just don't understand why you did it."

He turned to the sink, grabbed two mugs full of coffee and placed them on the counter, next to the toasts. "I wanted you to have breakfast with me," he said a little hesitant, unsure of how she was going to react.

Melany took a few steps forward and sat on the bench with a mixture of curiosity and amusement on her face. "Do you always have breakfast at dawn?" He laughed and sat down beside her, visibly relieved that she was not angry.

"No, but today I thought I'd take the day off to do something with you, so I wanted to get an early start." He took a bite on a toast and pointed at the mug in front of her. "I hope you like your coffee black, but there's milk too if you want it…"

"No, black is fine," she held the mug a bit distracted. "But Shannon, why do you want to spend your day with me?"

He shrugged. "Well, you've been here for two months already and I bet Jared didn't take you to the coolest places."

When he mentioned Jared, she lowered her eyes and pursed her lips. "Oh, he's taken me to some places ..."

"But not the best, I bet," Shannon interrupted laughing, pretending not to have noticed the sudden change in her mood when he talked about his brother. "Have you ever ridden a motorcycle?" He wanted to change the subject quickly. She nodded a little more lively, and he gave his best crooked smile. "Then I'll take you to a really cool ride today, are you in?"

"Oh, Shannon, I don't know." Melany took a long sip of coffee before continuing, "I mean, wouldn't it be a little strange? With Jared and everything?" Shannon opened his mouth to answer and she added, "and we don't really know each other!"

"Mel," he leaned forward and placed his hand between hers. She shivered slightly at his touch, but didn't take her hands away. "We don't know each other because you spend all of your time surrounding Jared and you don't pay attention to others around you, people who want to get closer. I don't know what kind of shit is going on between you two, but for some reason I like you and I think it would be good for you to have another friend here in LA, other than Jared, with whom you're fighting all the time, and Emma, who works for him at the end of the day, as much as you like her."

She twisted her lip, looking away to the ground. It was great that Shannon was doing all that effort to cheer her up, and she had to admit that he had a point. Still, the idea of letting a new person into her life at that moment seemed too daunting. He squeezed her hand lightly and smiled at her, "so will you give me a chance?"

Melany couldn't hold back a smile and finally nodded. "Alright, Shannon, I think you just won me over with your coffee and your penetrating gaze."

"Oh, she has a sense of humor!" He perked up, squeezing her arms and laughing.

They finished their coffee while talking about unimportant things, most of the time it was Shannon who spoke, trying to make her talk. When they were done, she grabbed the two mugs and started walking towards the sink, but he blocked her way putting his hands on her shoulders. "No, no, young lady, you can climb back up to my room and get ready to go. I'll be right after you." She thanked with a smile, gave him the mugs and was already out of the kitchen when he spoke a little louder, "Pick another one of my shirts to wear, they look good on you." By his tone, Melany imagined that he had another crooked smile on his face, one of those that only he seemed to dominate. She shook her head smiling herself and turned to the stairs, looking directly at Jared, who was standing a few steps higher, looking down at her.

They stared at each other in silence for what seemed to be an eternity even longer than that of the previous night. Melany felt her smile dying on her lips and as it was already becoming usual, could not think of anything to say. She felt the judgment in his eyes, understanding what he was reading of that situation and wanting to explain that he was wrong, wanting more than anything that that mess stopped growing.

"What the fuck, Melany?" He asked quietly, his hands in the side pockets of his pajamas, his messy hair stuck down. His eyes measured her from head to toe with a mixture of hurt, disappointment and anger. She knew she had done nothing wrong, but still felt dirty, wanting to take Shannon's shirt off and tear it to pieces in front of Jared.

"Jared," she was able to speak with a tiny voice, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. "Please, we need to talk."

Before he could respond, Shannon appeared in the hallway, looking from one to the other with a worried expression. "Go to my room and wait for me there," he said to Melany, to which Jared gave a mocking laugh.

"Yeah, Melany, your savior has arrived once again, go to his room."

"Jared, please!" Shannon asked.

"No, hold on, _you_ sleep with this whore and _I'm_ forced to see her parading your clothes in my house the next day?"

Melany went forward with watery eyes and slapped Jared in the face. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets, looking at her with the coldest look she had ever seen on him. She could not believe what he had said, her whole body was shaking with rage and her vision was blurring. She passed by Shannon and started walking towards the front door of the house and out into the street without looking back or noticing if any of them was calling her back.


	3. Guilt

"Damn it, Jared!" Shannon bursted as soon as Melany got out the door. "This time you've outdone yourself."

Jared shrugged and finally descended the last few steps of the stairs, heading for the kitchen. He said nothing to his brother because there was nothing to say. At least not now. He waited until he heard the sound of Shannon slamming the door that Melany had left open, only then he reached for a bowl and a box of cereal.

In front of the house, Shannon looked at both sides of the street and, thinking as fast as he could, turned right and started down toward the city. To the left the climb would lead to the woods, Jared's favorite place, and where he imagined Melany wouldn't go. He ran down the street, feeling his heart pounding in his ears, at the same time worried about the girl and wanting to punch his brother. He needed to know what was the problem between those two, what he had gotten himself into. He spotted Melany about three blocks down, brisk walking and stumbling, but not running. She had her arms wrapped tight around her body and even from behind it was easy to see that she was crying violently.

"Melany!" He yelled, lowering his pace to reach her. "Mel, hey, wait a minute," he called again, managing to hold her arms by the elbows. She tried to hide her face with her hands while trying not so hard to free her arms. Shannon noticed that she was barefoot, which made him even more upset about the whole situation.

"Let go of me, Shannon", Melany managed to speak through her sobs, squirming in his arms, "leave me alone, stop trying to help me." That touched him in such a way that he ended up doing the opposite, pulling her closer and holding her tight until she stopped complaining and the sobbings lowered to a minimum. Now that she was calmer, Shannon sat on the sidewalk and pulled her to his side, keeping an arm around her shoulder.

"Jared was an idiot, I've never seen him behave like this," he said.

"Yeah, me neither." Melany hugged her knees and seemed to stare at her bare and dirty feet for the first time. Shannon watched her with a serious expression.

"What happened to you, sweetie?" She bit her lip and shook her head, trying hard to hold back the tears.

"Shann, I really appreciate everything you're trying to do, but Jared is your brother." He waited while she stopped talking to wipe her eyes and take a deep breath. "The last thing I want is to make you fight."

"But if he's wrong ..."

"He's not entirely wrong, ok?" Melany interrupted, turning her swollen face to look at him. Shannon looked at her: shoulders shaking and biting her lip to avoid crying, and sighed, running his tongue over his own lips. He didn't know what to say. "I really want to be able to tell you everything," she continued, "I really want your friendship, really. But I'm not ready to open up to you. "He smiled and pressed her shoulder, leaning his head against hers. They were quiet for a few minutes until she moved away. "I need to go to home."

"I'll drive you," he replied promptly. Melany began to shake her head, but he didn't let her protest. "You don't really think I'll let you go alone like this, do you? For the love of god, Melany, at least let me take you home."

"My car ..."

"I'll drive."

"Yeah, and how will you get back?"

"I'm in good psychological conditions to take a cab!" He answered, laughing and getting a weak smile out of her too. It was better than nothing.

He helped her up and the two began to walk together towards the White house in the middle of the hill. Melany had hurt her feet on the asphalt, but with all the rage she was feeling, she hadn't noticed then. Now she was limping a little and was relieved that she wouldn't have to drive home. Shannon was a very nice guy, and she knew that they could be friends, but after that morning she found it difficult to keep any relationship with him and his brother at the same time. If she could make peace with Jared, which seemed to become more and more impossible, it was likely that he would eventually make her chose between them, and that would not end up well at all. Jared was not an idiot, though he acted as one that morning, but had always been very protective and jealous when it came to her. Melany knew he would never accept a friendship between her and Shannon, he would see it as an affront, a challenge.

As they approached the gate, she paused nervously. "I left all my stuff in your room," she sighed, "purse, cell phone, car keys, shoe."

"Yeah, I know." Shannon would never ask her to get in that house again, not with Jared inside. "Wait for me here in the car, I'll get your stuff and I'll be back."

Melany leaned against her car, which was parked next to the wall since the previous night, and waited for Shannon, watching him disappear through the gate and the front door. Despite what she had told him about wanting his friendship, which was true, she could not let that happen. He was an easy guy to like, they got along, she would cling to him very fast and that would make things even more difficult. She sighed, rubbing her eyes once more. She had been damned the moment she agreed coming to Los Angeles.

* * *

Shannon went into the house determined not to look for his he passed through the kitchen door he saw with the corner of his eye that Jared was sitting at the counter where he himself sat with Melany an hour ago, but he went ahead and climbed the stairs to his room. He didn't have any trouble finding the things that Melany left behind, she had put everything in a corner of the chair beside the bed. The shirt she was wearing the night before and her shoes were inside her bag, the only thing that wasn't was her phone, which he had programmed to wake her at dawn. He picked up the phone, put it into the bag and paused for a moment, feeling guilty for everything. He loved Jared more than anything in his life, but couldn't accept the way he had treated Melany; he would ask his brother to have lunch together or something like that and he would try to solve the whole thing. He took the sunglasses that were on the dresser, and when he was leaving the room, he ran into Emma on the hallway, looking at him with a nervous expression.

"Shannon, I don't know what to do," she said frowning. He returned to the room, put Melany's bag on the bed and motioned for Emma to get in and close the door behind her. "I've never seen him like this, he is mad!" She leaned against the closed door and covered her mouth with her hands.

"What have you heard?" Shannon asked, leaning against the wardrobe.

"I _saw_ everything that happened on the stairs," she replied, shrugging. "I knew he would wake up early today because we didn't finish our meeting yesterday. He was too distracted knowing that Melany was here, the rest of the night was a waste of time. I convinced him that she would leave soon, but he wasn't able to focus anyway."

"Shit, I thought you had finished it yesterday and he would sleep a little more." He ran his fingers through his hair, his guilt beginning to weigh even more.

"You know your brother..." Emma said quietly. "Anyway, I was up here, turning towards the steps when I saw them downstairs. I was going down to break the ice when you showed up and he went crazy. "Shannon suddenly widened his eyes.

"Emma, you didn't believe..."

"No, relax. I know none of you would do that, "she hesitated for a moment. "He knows that too, I think he just said the first thing that came to his mind to hurt Mel."

"But why would he do that? My god, what is the history between these two?" Emma didn't answer, and he gave a nervous smile, running a hand through his mouth. "Fuck, am I the only one who doesn't know shit?"

"Shannon," she used the tone she always used when she had to intervene in an argument between him and Jared, "I only know because I must know. It's my job."

"Yeah, I know."

"It is not for me to tell you, but I think it would be very good if you would talk to Jared about it. Before he does something stupid." Shannon felt bad for Emma, he knew that it was her who would have to deal with his brother as he led Melany home.

"I will, I just need to drive Melany home first. Can you handle him a little longer?" Emma nodded. He smiled, picking up the purse that he had left on the bed. "You're a saint," he gave her a kiss on her forehead and left the room.

He risked a look into the kitchen as he passed through the door, but Jared was not there. He went straight out, put on his glasses and found Melany against the side of her car, arms crossed. "Emma," he said to explain the delay. She shook her head, grabbing her purse, looking for the car keys in the inside pocket and handing them to him. It was a silent and slightly uncomfortable trip for both of them; Shannon was nervous and anxious to talk to Jared, he knew he couldn't get any insight from Melany, he didn't even think that he had the right to insist more. On her end, she was anxious to get home and spend the day sleeping, trying to erase the events from the last hours of her memory.

Shannon parked on her spot on the parking lot, and they went together to her apartment. It wasn't very big, but it was enough for one person to live alone. While she took two bottles of water in the kitchen, he observed that there was little furniture and all the curtains were closed, blocking the light. Melany handed him the water and motioned for them to sit in the room. Instead of a couch, she had a single mattress positioned in front of the TV and next to a coffee table with a pillow at one end and a messy blanket on the other. Shannon smiled awkwardly and she rolled her eyes.

"I don't sleep here," she gave a little push on his arm. "I'm only here to write and sometimes I fall asleep."

"Isn't it better to work in a place with fewer distractions?" He asked, sitting at one end of the mattress and putting the pillow on her lap. She sat beside him, shrugging.

"I don't mind the tv, Jared was the one who gave it to me, but I never turn it on. And I prefer to write at a comfy corner than sitting on a desk."

"I never read any of your books."

"Shannon" She pretended to be offended, making him laugh. "How do you want to be my friend, if you never read my books?"

"I promise I'll read it," he said, still laughing and taking a sip of his water.

They were silent for a few moments until Melany said she needed to wash her feet and rest. Shannon made her promise she would call if she needed anything and would answer the phone if he called. She wondered if she would.

"Oh, wait," Melany left him at the door and ran to one of the rooms, returning with a book in her hands. "Start this," she handed it to him with a sheepish grin. He nodded, giving her a wink and hugging her.

"You sure you'll be okay?" He asked worried getting away from her and looking into her eyes.

"Yeah, Shann. Thanks for everything."

Melany waited for him to get in the elevator and closed the door, thinking of Jared and feeling an enormous guilt for having involved Shannon in their fight.


	4. Interest

When Shannon came home, he could hear the low voices of Jared and Emma coming from some room at the back of the house. He took a deep breath and followed the sound to one of the offices where the two were sitting at the table, Emma reading something on her macbook, Jared listening with his head down and scrolling through his phone. Shannon was leaning against the doorframe, his back to his brother, thinking of the best way to talk to him about Melany. He recalled a time when they were children, and Jared caught him kissing a girl at school, with whom he was in love. Shannon hadn't done it on purpose – it was the girl who was on top of him, and he had let her out of curiosity - but Jared had been so devastated, he vowed to himself that he would never even look at any girl that his brother was interested. The thing with Melany was all more complicated.

Emma looked up from her computer and greeted Shannon with a nod and a quick smile. Jared turned in his chair to follow her gaze and stared at his brother without a word.

"Well," the blonde woman began, closing the macbook and getting up, "I'll let you guys talk." Shannon came over and sat in the chair she had released, passing his sunglasses from one hand to the other. She put a hand on Jared's shoulder, "I'll get something for us to eat, call me if you need anything," she looked at Shannon, emphasizing the last sentence. He blinked in response, and she went out, leaving them alone.

Jared was focused on his phone, more to avoid the gaze of his brother than anything else. Shannon waited patiently until he put it inside his pocket, sighing and rubbing his face, finally looking in his direction.

"For starters, I didn't lay a hand on Melany," he said carefully.

"I know."

"You do?"

"I do now. I wasn't thinking, Shannon, I'm sorry."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to, bro." Jared just nodded. "What's the problem between you two? I never saw you acting like that."

"I don't want you to get involved, Shann."

"I think it's a little late for that."

Jared scratched his head irritated. "What did she say?"

"Nothing, Mel says nothing about you. She just keeps repeating that she doesn't want me to get close to her."

"I don't want you to either, Shannon." Jared was very serious.

"My god, what's your problem?" Shannon threw his glasses on the table. "After all, are you still together?"

"No, we were never together. We are just friends... Were, I don't know.

"Were? You bring the girl to LA just to get her closer to you, and you will leave her alone now?"

"It's complicated..."

"I don't care, I want to know!" He raised his voice slightly. "After what you did this morning, I have the fucking right to know what's happening!"

They stared at each other in silence for a while, until Jared spoke. "Mel is very lonely. Here, in NY, wherever she is, she keeps to herself and she's lonely. She has other friends besides me, but I think I'm the only one who was Always by her side." He shrugged. "We always got along very well, she is a wonderful woman, you know? An amazing friend. But she was in a very bad shape in NY, she is going through a difficult phase, and that city was swallowing her."

"What happened?"

"Her parents died in an accident last year. She wasn't speaking with them since 2010." Jared rested his heels on the edge of the chair and hugged his knees.

"Holy shit." Shannon stroked his beard. Jared nodded.

"She always drank a little more than she should, but it was no big deal. Only after the death of her parents, she started going out with people she wasn't supposed to, she started using and abusing everything."

Shannon sighed, pinching his lower lip with his fingers. Some things started to make sense now. "You brought her to LA to look after her, right?" He nodded.

"I thought maybe if we were close she would be happier, but she's gone all the time, goes days without answering her phone. It makes me crazy! I worry so much about her, she is like a sister to me, Shann."

"She disappeared last week? That's why you fought?"

"She disappeared for four days!" He replied nervous. "She wasn't answering my calls or my messages. I thought she didn't want to see me, so I asked Emma to go to her apartment to see if everything was okay. Emma has a key, because sometimes Mel asks her to sleep there. Shortly after she called me crying, saying that she had found Melany nakes in the bathroom, passed out in her own vomit." Shannon's eyes widened. "I met them at the hospital, I wanted to kill Mel, I yelled so much at her. Maybe I shouldn't have yelled so much."

"But what happened?" Shannon was concerned, he had no idea that things were that bad.

"She doesn't know! Can you imagine, she couldn't tell me what had happened!" Jared stopped a bit to calm down. "She went to some party the day before and met a guy who took her to another place. The next thing she remembers is waking up naked in her own bed."

"At least she was in her own bed!" Shannon interrupted.

"Yeah! She said she was in pain and thought about going to the bathroom to try and throw up. After that she can't remember anything else."

"Damn it, I don't believe it!"

"Imagine how I was!" Shannon nodded. "She was lucky that she fell facing the floor and that I asked Emma to go there, god knows when she was going to wake up or what else could happen. We don't even know what that guy did to her!" Jared was very andry and Shannon knew he was right to be, he could only imagine what he'd have done if he was in his place. Suddenly he felt very bad, he wanted to help Melany, he wanted to help Jared taking care of her.

"You need to talk to her," he said seriously.

"I know," Jared replied, sighing and running his hands through his hair. "How is she?"

"Not good. I think I distracted her a little bit this morning, but with everything that happened..."

"Shit!" He sank his head in his hands.

"Jared?" Shannon waited until his brother looked at him. "You gotta let me help."

"I don't think it's a good idea. You..."

"I know how to take care of myself." Jared stared at him in silence. "And there's another thing, I don't want to see you like that anymore. Do you have any ideia how much you change when you get into a fight with Mel? And she," he paused for a moment, looking down as he thought, "she's becoming more and more devastated. She came here in the hopes of finding something that would make her feel better, but instead she's only getting worse. Come on, let me help."

Jared sighed tiredly, fixing his gaze on some distant point. "Just promise me one thing, Shannon."

"Huh?"

"That you will try not to fall for her, or worse, let her fall for you. At least try. "He turned to look at him. Shannon gave a little nervous laugh, half amused.

"Why do you think that would happen?"

"Because I know you two very well."

He smiled. "Mel is... quite interesting, I admit."

"Oh my God," Jared rolled his eyes.

"But don't worry, little brother, I'll... try. For you." They laughed a little. It was good to break that tension between them.

"In other circumstances, I wouldn't think it would be bad, you know? If we stop to think, you are almost a perfect fucking couple." Shannon laughed loudly, and Jared followed him. "But..."

"Yeah," Shannon stopped laughing and gave a sad smile. "Yeah, I know."

"Be careful, ok?" Jared was serious.

* * *

At dawn, now lying on his bed, he turned another page of the book that Mel had lent him. He wasn't expecting much, he just wanted to look at it before going to sleep, but when he realized, he was halfway through the story. He closed the book smiling, she was good. That was her first published volume; he was curious to know for how long she was writing, what inspired her, which stories she had to tell. He took his phone beside his bed and texted her, he had the impression that they would have much to talk about from then on. He fell asleep thinking that Melany was indeed a very interesting girl.


	5. Sunset

The light finally managed to seep through a crack in the shutter of the living-room, a thin, bright flash, which went all the way from side to side of the room until it hit a closed lid covering a tired and irritated eye. Melany had advanced the night writing, eventually sleeping right where she told Shannon that she didn't, the mattress next to the coffee table. When she felt the brightness hitting them, she squeezed her eyes tightly and rolled over, pulling the blanket over her head. She vaguely registered the existence of light, which meant it was probably late enough to be able to wake up, but went back to sleep anyway.

Hours later, she woke up with the insistent ringing of the phone next to her. She grumbled and ignored the call until it stop, but couldn't get back to sleep. She sat up, rubbing her eyes calmly. With a yawn,she picked up the phone next to the computer and was amazed to see the notifications from two missed calls and five text messages.

The missed calls were from Emma, who also sent two of the messages. Other two were Shannon's, Jared's came last. Taking a deep breath, already fearing something serious, Melany read the first message, sent at 4 AM by Shannon.

"_You better not have killed Alexia!"_

She burst in laghter that echoed inside the empty apartment. He was reading her book, the first in the series that she have not yet finished writing. She had borrowed him the book without thinking too much about what she was doing, without imagining what he would think of the story. Now she could see Shannon sprawled on his messy bed, with a cup of coffee in one hand and her book in the other, anxious and curious for the end of the volume. She let the laughter die in an easy smile when she realized that that image was quite pleasing. The second message he had sent at 3:30 PM, just half an hour ago.

"_I read half of the book yesterday and finished it today. Sweetie, you're good! I'll pass by your house later, can I go upstairs and say hi?"_

Still smiling, biting her lower lip and crossing her legs, Melany replied:

"_I'm glad you liked Alexia! I think you can, call me when you're close. But tell the truth, Shann, you don't want to say hi, you want the next book! You chutzpah! :)"_

Emma sent the first message at 8 AM and the second one fifteen minutes ago.

"_Mel, how are you? Shann told me that everything is fine, but I'll fell better hearing it from you. Call me. XO"_

_"Melany, I already tried calling twice and you didn't answer. Please send news! (It's not Jared who wants to know, it's me.)"_

With a pang of guilt for not having answered the call that woke her up, Melany replied that she had spent all night writing and was sleeping until now. She said she was sorry and asked Emma to brunch the next day. She knew that sometimes she ended up not giving the blonde her due value and she felt terrible about it. Spending time together could do very well for both of them.

Finally, she arrived at Jared's message. Melany felt her head throb only by clicking the notification, marking 10 AM. She took a deep breath and read:

"_Mel, I think we owe each other some apologies. I want to talk to you, call me ok?"_

It was a short message, but she read and reread countless times, feeling her heart beating in her throat. She knew Jared enough to know that it was a good thing, that everything would return to normal soon. She was almost calling him when the phone vibrated in her hands, Shannon had answered.

"_I want the next book and I want to have coffee with the author, what is the problem? :)"_

She answered in a hurry:_ "Your brother wants to talk to me, don't know how long this will take. I'll call you after I talk to him, okay?"_

She got up and dialed Jared's number, biting her nails and walking in circles in the living room while listening to the tone.

"_Hi Mel," _he answered hoarsely.

She had to lean on the kitchen door to answer, _"Hi, Jay. Sorry, just saw your message now."_

"_All right. How are you?"_

"_Really? I'm nervous."_ Jared let out a low chuckle, and she followed.

"_Yeah, me too. I'm done fighting with you, Mel."_ She smiled quietly, playing with a lint that was loose on her blouse. _"Are you smiling?"_

"_Of course I am!"_ She replied amused. _"I don't want this anymore, Jared, I don't know if I can take it anymore."_ It was his turn to be silent for a while. _"Where are you?" _

"_In the woods, I wanted to think. Do you want to come over? It's been a while since the last time we saw the sunset together."_

"_I do!"_ she replied promptly, which made Jared laugh again. _"Just give me some time to take a shower and I'll be there."_

"_You don't need to hurry,"_ he said calmly. _"Do you want me to tell Shannon that you won't be able to go out tonight?"_ Melany froze.

"_How do you know he...?"_

"_He told me."_

"_Ah ..." _Melany thought she had to say something in her defense, since Jared fell in a silence that felt quite accusatory._ "We were not going out, he just wanted to come by later. I lent _Crossed _to him yesterday, and he liked it..."_

"_Mel, Mel," _Jared interrupted again_, "you don't need to justify yourself. He told me about the book and said he wanted to surprise you, take you to dinner or something like that."_

"_Oh really?"_

"_Really. He kind of wanted to ask my permission," _he continued with an amused voice. Melany bit her lip, not knowing whether to laugh or to play defensive. "_I said okay and told him to take you on that hamburger place you like."_

She breathed a sigh of relief._ "Thank you, Jared." _He grunted in response._ "Well, I'll get ready. And don't worry. I'll talk to your bother, okay?"_

"_Okay, I'm waiting for you."_

Melany hung up the phone and stared at the wall for a while, trying to absorb all this information; Jared wanting to make amends and telling Shannon where he could take her, and Shannon wanting to surprise her. A dinner at the place she liked wasn't a big deal, it didn't mean much, but it was a very nice gesture on his part. She dialed his number.

"_Mel!"_ Shannon answered cheerfully.

"_Hi, Shann,"_ she said already laughing.

"_So, did you spoke to Jared? Is everything all right?"_

"_I did, I'm actually going to meet him right now. I think I won't be able to have you here today. Okay?"_

"_Oh, okay. Yeah, sure. You'd better solve things soon, anyway."_

"_Let's reschedule, okay?"_

"_Of course we will, I'll make you set aside a day just for me on that Jared-full schedule of yours." _Melany laughed and said goodbye, saying she needed to get ready. "_Hey, Mel," _he called when she was about to hang up._ "Good luck with Jay." _

She smiled._ "Thank you, Shann. See you."_

* * *

Melany parked her car in front of the chain link fence next to Jared's. It was his favorite place and he already had brought her there several times, so she knew how to find it. She pulled around by a loose edge hidden by bushes and went to the other side. The sun wouldn't set for almost an hour, still she went along the the track with a quick step, since she had always been a little afraid to walk alone over there. After a 10 minute walk, she arrived at a more clean, flat part of the hill, which provided a wonderful view of Los Angeles below. Jared was sitting with his legs crossed and his back against one of the trees. He was so still and so well hidden, it would be difficult for anyone to notice him there. Melany took advantage as he still hadn't noticed her and stood there watching him, with the whole city at his feet. She loved him too much, as a lover, as a friend, a father, a brother. Jared had pulled her out of very dark places several times when she thought there was no way back, he has never given up on her no matter what she did to push him away. There, in that moment, she vowed to herself that she would not give them more reasons to quarrel, it was time for a change.

She approached him slowly and tried to make noise trampling on the branches, so she wouldn't jump on him. Jared turned his head to the side, without actually looking at Melany and tapped the ground beside him, indicating the place for her to sit. She bent down and leaned back against the neighboring tree, extending her legs in front of her, swinging them over the cliff. Without a word, she rested her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her back.

"_You know I don't like it when you put your feet out like that."_ Jared said in an uneasy tone. She laughed, but pulled her legs in, hugging her knees.

"_Jared..."_

"_Melany..."_ They said in unison.

"_Can I go first?"_ She asked, turning her head to look at him, who nodded. _"Jared, I've been a terrible friend to you, I know. I have no way to justify the things I've done, not to you, not to myself."_ She dropped her knees and took the hand he rested on his lap. _"The truth is I'm afraid, Jay."_

"_But afraid of what, Mel?"_ He squeezed her hand and her shoulder. _"You know you can always count on me, I brought you here to help you..."_

"_Yeah! And I know and I thank you so much for that. You went far beyond anything I could hope to be able to help me."_

"_And to what avail? Nothing has changed, you didn't improve, and we just drifted apart since you got here."_

"_I know," _she replied softly, turning to lay her head on his shoulder. This time, Jared hugged her with both arms, one hand petting her head.

"_I miss you too,Mel." _He released her and saw that she had begun to cry. He ran a hand across her face, wiping away a tear._ "What are you afraid of?"_

"_Of disappoint you," _Melany dried her face and tucked her hair behind her ear._ "I've always wanted to make you proud of me, Jay, and of course I've always failed."_

"_Don't talk like that, M..."_

"_No, let me finish." _She asked stirred. "_My life has been a series of disasters, even when my parents were still alive, so I've never had a lot of willpower to be a better person. I had my books, but it was as if it was parto f someone else's life. The real Melany was the Melany who got drunk, did drugs, went to bed with any guy and woke up the next day not knowing what had happened." _Jared closed his eyes and sighed, she held his hand again, forcing him to look at her._ "And then you came along. And what was wassupposed to last only for one night, lasted eight months. When we met again I knew I couldn't let you out of my life a second time."_

"_And then you begun trying to get clean."_

"_Yeah. And each relapse I had hurt a thousand times more than it should, because I knew that in addition to all the shit I was putting myself through, you were getting hurt too. Now that I'm here," _she sighed and looked at the city below, "_I love being able to get closer to you, Jay, but the guilt I feel for hurting you weigh twice as much." _She calmed down and wiped her eyes .

Jared pulled her close again and they were hugging each other in silence for a while, watching as the sun was falling. Finally, he kissed her forehead and pulled back to look her in the eyes.

"_I was a complete moron with you and Shannon back home. Sorry about that."_

"_You were an asshole, but you were worried. I understand your reaction."_

"_No, Mel. The same way you don't know how to justify the things you've done, I have no excuse to have acted that way. Seriously, I was feeling like crap as soon as you left."_

She grinned,_ "so I don't need to apologize for slapping you in the face?"_

Jared laughed loudly,_ "No, chutzpah, you don't."_

The sun painted the horizon red when Melany plucked up the courage to ask about Shannon. _"Jared?"_ She was still lying on his shoulder, their hands clasped. _"Were you jealous of Shannon? Or did you get angry because I supposedly brought my shit inside your house?"_

He rested his head on the tree trunk and covered his eyes with one hand. _"I knew you'd ask that!"_

"_Oh, sorry."_

"_No, no, that's okay," _he sighed._ "Look, Mel, Shannon is a guy who will get along very easily with you, I think you already noticed that." _She nodded._ "I always knew this could happen, and maybe it was why I avoided leaving you two alone."_

"_But why?"_

"_Because you are both very impressionable. You know everything that Shannon did when he was younger, I already told you that story."_

"_And you're afraid that I take him to the bottom again?" _She asked, staring at him indignantly.

Jared licked his lips and nodded his head.

"_Oh, Jared, I don't believe it!" _She pulled away from him and tried to get up but he held her by the arms and brought her back.

"_Calm down, Mel. Look at me." _Melany still struggled to get loose for a few moments, but relented and sighed, looking at him._ "I'm afraid you fall in love, maybe I am a little jealous, yes."_

"_But Jared..."_

"_No, now it's my turn! I'm afraid you fall in love, and it is only a matter of time until this happens. I already told him that, I think in other circumstances it would be a good thing, you make a better couple than you and I ever did. But the closer you get, the higher are the chances..."_

"_And don't you think that my hypothetical relationship with your brother could help me get better, instead of me dragging him down?"_

"_Melany, that's not what I..."_

"_Jared, stop, you're getting too carried away with it. I just got closer to Shannon, he was very nice to me the last two or three times we talked, but that was it. He is a nice guy, I like him, I want to keep in touch with him, but that doesn't mean that one of us will fall in love! Jesus! In your head we are already the star couple of rehab, and you've won custody of our two kids."_

"_Don't you say that!" _He tried to be serious but ended up laughing with her.

They saw the sunset talking about silly things. Both felt much better now, even not having reached a consensus on the her involvement with Shannon. When the sky was dark, they slowly walked the trail back to the cars, Jared holding Melany's waist, both lighting the way with their phones. He pulled and held an opening in the fence for her to pass to the other side and then followed her.

"_Will you sleep over?"_ Melany said, taking the key from her pocket.

"_Oh, Mel, you're still very easy."_ He grabbed her waist and pinned her on the side of her car, bringing his face closer to hers.

"_Jared..."_ She let her head fall to the side and closed her eyes, smiling and pushing his chest with both hands. He laughed and made her look at him, holding her chin between his fingers.

"_I missed you so much."_ She loosened her hands and clasped her arms around his neck. Jared came over and pressed his lips on hers, one hand still holding her waist. Melany pulled away and hung her head down.

"_That's enough, okay?"_ They laughed and Jared let her go. _"So, are you sleeping at my place?"_

"_You don't want to be alone, right?"_ He asked, putting a strand of hair behind her ear. Melany shook her head, with a serious look. _"Alright, let's go."_

They got inside their cars and Jared followed her to her apartment.


	6. Beach

Emma leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table, squinting at Melany. "Do you really want me to believe that he kissed you, you slept in the same bed and nothing happened?"

"That was exactly what happened!" Melany said over her cup of coffee. "And you're overreacting, it was just a pressing of lips, there wasn't any tongue action involved. You know it's not the first time it happens."

"Oh, Mel, a quick and innocent kiss from time to time is one thing, but it's totally different if he was holding you against your car, grabbing your waist and…" Melany choked on her coffee, making Emma laugh. "I don't know, I think that if it was nothing you wouldn't be telling me." She leaned back in her chair and took a bite of her cake.

Melany rested her chin on her hand and sighed, thinking. "It was really nothing, except that there was something… different. If I had let him, maybe something more would have happened, and that would be terrible!"

"Aye. You definitely don't know how to balance friendship and sex." Melany nodded.

"It's just that it's been so long since we had any sexual thing going on between us, I found it odd that he acted this way after having practically decreed that Shannon and I were dating. It's like he's begging for attention."

Emma laughed. "Oh, Jared is so jealous!"

"Yeah!" Melany nodded, putting a piece of waffle on her mouth.

"But what about Shannon?" Emma continued.

"What about Shannon?"

"He is very excited about you!" She smiled teasingly.

"You too?!" They laughed. "Oh, he's really cool. I borrowed him my first book on Friday night and by yesterday morning he had already read everything!" Melany was excited herself.

"I know, he told me," Emma smiled. "Are you going out with him soon?"

"I should, shouldn't I? After all he did for me these days... what do you think?"

"Oh, Mel, you're a cutie!" The blonde laughed again, ignoring the confusion on Melany's face. "I think you should do it soon, because in a couple of weeks they have the European leg of their tour and it will last until the end of September."

"Nearly two months of touring! I think I'll never get used to it." She looked discouraged. "Okay, I'll call Shannon later then."

Emma rolled her eyes and took her cell phone from her purse. "I honestly don't know how you people would live without me" she said dialing.

"What do you mean? Emma, don't do it!" She went for the phone, but couldn't reach it.

"Shann? I'm fine, I'm here with Mel... Oh, actually, she wanted to ask you something, I'll put you on speaker," she put the phone on the table, between the two. Melany shook both hands in the air and her head from side to side, while Emma covered her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing aloud.

"Mel?" A deep voice asked on the other side of the line. Melany tucked her red face in her hands, cursing the woman in front of her.

"Hi, Shann," she replied holding her laughter and shaking her clenched fist to Emma, who was already in tears. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"For now!" Emma yelled from across the table, Melany looked startled.

"For now?" He started laughing too. "No, why?"

"Do you think we can go for that ride you promised me?" She asked, closing her eyes tightly. She couldn't believe this was happening, she was about to disappear in shame.

He got excited. "Sure we can, sweetie! Emma, can you bring her here in your car?"

"Yeah."

"I'm waiting for you then! Oh, Mel, come in a bathing suit and bring a change of clothes if you want to." Her eyes widened and Emma laughed loudly. "What?"

"Nothing!" She said between laughter. "We'll go to her apartment to get her things and then we'll come to you. See ya, Shann."

"Okay, see ya."

"I'm gonna kill you!" Melany said between her teeth when Emma hung up, still laughing.

"No you won't, you'll thank me later."

"No, Emma, seriously, after all this mess... We just made up, Jared will go nuts."

"Stop worrying about what Jared will think!" She reached out and took Melany's hand. "He will never fail to be jealous of you, don't let that be a reason for you not to go out and have fun with other people."

"Shannon's no other people, he's Jared's brother!"

"And if he were ugly, you wouldn't be freaking out," Emma said absently, taking a bill from her wallet and putting it under her cup. Melany did the same with an angry expression. "Oh, don't give me this look! Come on, you noticed Shannon already, didn't you?" Melany blushed but didn't answer. She rolled her eyes and let Emma drag her to the car. "Look, I know you're not into him and everything," Emma continued while driving. "But you got along so nicely, it would be a shame to miss such a cool friendship just because he is so beautiful that you don't know if you could say no if anything happened."

"You're making me sound like a perv." They both laughed.

"But you get what I'm saying." Melany nodded her head. "So relax and enjoy the day with Shann, allow yourself to do this," she smiled and winked at her. "And try not to freak out if something goes wrong, please!"

Melany looked out the window and tried to calm down and not to think about Jared.

* * *

Shannon was waiting on the sidewalk with two helmets in his hands.

"Someone is anxious!" Emma nudged Melany when they parked next to him. They got out and he came smiling towards her. He kissed Emma on the forehead and awkwardly hugged Melany because of the helmets and the backpack she was carrying over one shoulder.

"What's in the backpack? Are you wearing a bikini?" He tried to look at the backpack while pulling the collar of her shirt.

"Calm down!" Melany laughed and pulled the collar a bit, showing the green neck tie. "I'm wearing a bikini and brought a change of clothes, a towel and some other things in the backpack. Wasn't I supp...?"

"No, this is perfect!" He smiled, satisfied, extending one of the helmets. "This is yours now. Let's go through the garage, I left everything already waiting there," and pushed through the gate on the sidewalk below. Melany looked at Emma, who shook her hands, encouraging her to go on. "Oh, Emma!" Shannon turned. "Jared went out with our mother, he said he left some papers for you on your desk."

"Okay, thank you. Now get out of here!" She replied smiling and getting inside the house.

"Get some rest too!" Shannon cried when they entered the garage. As soon as they hung up earlier, he ran to get things ready for when she arrived. Although he didn't rode on the Shadow so much, he wanted to take Melany to ride it, as he suspected that the two of them would make a nice match. The 750 was blood red and black, and he had placed a crate of beer inside his bag and took off the rest of the day and night to be with Melany. He knew things were already better between her and Jared, which made him more relaxed about the whole thing, and a lot less guilty. "Ever rode this one before?" He asked when he saw that she was standing with her mouth opened next to the motorcycle.

"Yeah, long time ago. She is so beautiful!" She replied excitedly.

"I knew you'd like it." He bit the corner of his lower lip and put his hands on her shoulders, pulling the handle of the bag from one of them. "The smaller jacket that I have here will be too big on you, let's see."

He put her bag down, took one of the jackets that were on the seat of the bike and kept it opened behind Melany for her to put on. He straightened the back and, holding her shoulders again, turned her to face him and joined the two sides to close the zipper, as she kept her arms stretched slightly, as if he were taking her measures.

"So?" Melany gave a theatrical turn, and he pulled away making a scene, with one arm crossed on his chest and the other hand resting on his face. "Do you approve?"

Shannon twisted his mouth and shook his head, disappointed, "it hides too much of your body, we have to find one your size. But it will do for today." Melany laughed embarrassed, and he stroked her hair. "I'm just kidding, Mel. I mean, I'm serious, but I mean it as a joke." He gave an impromptu kiss on her cheek and put on his own jacket, turning his back to her, she could feel her face burning. "Shall we?" Shannon asked, putting on his helmet.

"You're not telling me where we're going, huh?" She asked, putting her hair on a bun and doing the same.

"Of course not, silly, it's a surprise," he winked at her and climbed on the bike, turning the keys. Melany took her backpack off the floor, put it on her back and went after him, resting her hands softly on his waist. Shannon laughed loudly, pulled her hands and clasped them on his belly, forcing them to get a little closer. "Don't be afraid to hold tight," he winked at her through the rearview mirror and they went out of the garage.

* * *

It was a long time since she didn't rode a motorcycle and she had almost forgotten how much she liked that feeling of freedom, the butterflies on her stomach created by speed. Shannon drove through streets and avenues that she already knew, but she felt like seeing them for the first time now. Everything seemed to wear a new facade, more attractive and welcoming than the previous one, in which Melany felt so intimidated since arriving in Los Angeles. Before she realized it, they were leaving the hills behind, moving away from the city and getting on the highway, the landscape becoming more natural. Shannon touched her leg and raised his arm, pointing to the left as they came out of a curve and came across the Pacific covering the entire west. The view was breath taking. In the rearview mirror, Melany saw that Shannon was looking at her and knew he was smiling as she was. She hugged his back harder and looked back at the sea, grateful that he couldn't see the tears that were forming in the corner of her eyes.

A few minutes later, they took an exit to the right and made a turn, getting into a narrower road that led to a small secluded beach. Shannon stopped the motorcycle next to a rock large enough to hide it, waited until Melany got down and followed her. While they stretched and took off their helmets and coats, he did not fail to notice her smile and how happy he was seeing her that way. She was barefoot and taking a few steps towards the sea, looking around and enjoying the feeling of the sand between her toes.

"Sorry for the joke, but do you come here often?" She asked with her hands on her waist, turning to him. Shannon laughed and took off the shirt he was wearing.

"Every once in a while. It's completely isolated, I like coming here when I want to be alone," he shrugged, lowering his pants and getting on his underwear, oblivious to her presence.

"Hm, Shannon?" She struggled to keep her eyes on his face. He noticed and smiled with the corner of his mouth, forcing a mischievous expression and turning to pick something up inside the saddlebag. He drew his shorts and showed it to her, raising an eyebrow and putting the piece on. Melany bit her lip awkwardly. "Sorry, Shann, I guess I'm not used to seeing a guy only in his underwear in front of me unless he wants something else."

"And who says I don't?" He cut her off, approaching and touching her waist. Melany put her hands on his chest, marking the distance and giving a nervous chuckle. Shannon pulled her hands with ease, pulled her close and spoke softly in her ear, "You need to calm down. I didn't bring you here to take advantage of you, I'm not trying to seduce you or anything, and I just want to be your friend." He felt her relaxing in his arms and walked away. "Okay?" He asked, holding her hands.

"Okay," Melany sighed ashamed. "Damn, I didn't want to seem like a silly teenager near you!"

"Is this because of Jared yet?" She shrugged. "I thought you were ok."

"We are, but I think he's jealous."

Shannon smiled, "yeah, I know. That's how he is."

"And not only that."

"What do you mean?"

"He speaks as if we were together, you and me. And Emma today practically forced me to come see you," she paused and smiled. "Don't get me wrong, Shann, you are wonderful, but all this pressure makes me a little uncomfortable."

"I'm wonderful!" He said with an evil grin. Melany pushed his arm, laughing grudgingly. "Serious tho, I don't find this situation very pleasant either, Mel. But, excuse me, I won't stop trying to get close to you because of it."

"But why? Why are you so interested in me out of a sudden?"

"I don't know, you _are _interesting. I like you," he squeezed her cheeks, making her laugh, "I'm getting in the water, are you coming with me?" He asked, giving her his hand.

"You go ahead, I'll take off my clothes." He blinked and turned around, walking towards the water. Melany stood still for a few seconds, looking at him before returning to the motorcycle.

Shannon ran the last few meters of sand and threw himself into the ocean, as he always did when he was alone, but aware of every step. Even not admitting it to himself, her presence made him want to show off a bit. He swim a little more and turned around looking for Melany and was relieved at that instant that she wasn't looking back. She was wearing a bikini and folding her clothes, placing them next to his, one leg slightly bent and her hair tied behind her ear, revealing a face that could be tense and relaxed at the same time. Everything about her seemed to be a perfect combination of opposites that not only coexisted, but completed each other, forming one of the most intriguing personalities he had ever met. Shannon couldn't see on that shy and nervous girl a shadow of what Jared told him, and it was because he knew that she wouldn't reveal herself completely that he was interested. Lost in these thoughts, he was surprised when she turned and smiled, coming towards him and holding her hair in a high bun before entering the water. He realized he was curious to know how much of her Melany would reveal to him in time.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, swimming to him.

"Yes!" He shook his head, "yeah, of course. I just got a little distracted."

"Damn it, Shannon, this place is wonderful! I can't believe my own eyes." Melany turned to the horizon.

"I'm glad you liked it," he smirked.

"I also liked the beer you brought without saying anything."

He bit his lower lip, "did I get it right? I mean, you look like you drink beer, so I thought…"

"Do I look like a drunk?" She raised her voice, trying to sound indignant. "Gee, thank you, is this what people think of me?"

"No! That's not what I meant, Mel," he got serious.

She threw water on him laughing. "I know, I'm just kidding. You nailed it," she smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You dork!" Shannon pulled her by the arm and threw water in her face, pulling her down a bit.

"Shannon!" She broke free and he swam fast, laughing. "Come back here!"

Melany went after him, who couldn't go faster because he was laughing so hard. Soon they reached each other and they looked like little kids playing in the water and trying to drown one another.

"Stop it... That's enough... I'm gonna die..." She asked, panting.

"You're so weak!" He clapped his hands on the water and raised his arms in victory, "I win!"

"Oh, shut up!" Melany tried to hit him in the chest, but he immobilized her arms and hugged her from behind. Bowing, she let her head fall on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "You'll have to swim for both of us," she said softly.

"Do you admit that I win?" He teased.

She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "you win."

"Very well." Shannou smiled and turned her to face him, putting her arms around his neck and pulling her up. "Only to the sand, okay?" She nodded her head buried in his neck, and he took them back to the beach, putting her up when they left the water. They walked hand in hand to where their things were, Melany took the towel from the bag, spread it on the sand and lay on her back, exhausted. Shannon sat beside her and put a bottle of beer on her arm, making her skin shiver. She sat up, grabbed the bottle and raised it in a cheer.

"To new friendships," she said smiling. He smiled back and wrinkled his nose, drinking his beer. "So this is where you bring all your girls?" Melany asked crossing her legs.

"Believe it or not, you are the first person that I bring here," he said looking at the ocean.

"Wow!" Her eyes widened with sincerity, she knew he was telling the truth. "I was convinced that that talk about coming here whenever you wanted to be alone was bullshit to win your ladies."

"My ladies?" Shannon laughed. "No, it's not bullshit, it's true." He turned to her, "Jared has the woods, I have my beach." She smiled and took a sip of her beer.

Some bottles later, Shannon was leaning against the rock, his left leg bent supporting Melany, who was facing the ocean. They were talking about her book.

"And in the end, it seems that Alexia is the one that suffers most from the quarrels between Cora and George, and it's not fair to her!" Shannon complained.

"But that is exactly what happens. Not that Cora and George didn't suffer, but I think Alexia suffer more for being the only one who could see clearly what was going on between them."

"Yeah! Please don't kill Alexia, ok?" He asked, holding her wrist. Melany laughed and moved her arm a bit, putting her hand into his.

"I'm writing the fifth book, you need to read the rest to help me decide the course of things."

"Would you let an idea aside if I suggested it?"

"No, but this kinds of talks with my readers inspire me a lot," she replied, squeezing his finger."

"That's funny, I'm your reader."

"And I'm a fan of your music."

"Are you? Or did Jared force you to like it?"

She looked at him frowning. "What do you think?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "Based on the effect that my brother has on you, I wouldn't doubt you told me you felt compelled to like our music."

"Oh, Shannon, don't say that," she pulled her arm back. He leaned over and pulled her close, laying her head on his shoulder and hugging her.

"Sorry," he said softly, kissing her cheek.

"Hum," she put her hands on his arms. "I thought Jared had told you back then."

"Told me what?"

"Alibi, Jared wrote it for me. Well, for both of us, but he said it was to give me strength, so I would never forget the good things that came from the bad, as our friendship, which grew out of a horrible relationship and continued to strengthen with our quarrels."

Shannon didn't know what to answer. He tightened his arms around her, his chin resting on her shoulder. "I had no idea, Mel," he spoke into her ear. "You have a very strong relationship."

She agreed. "But, anyway, when I said I was a fan of your music, I was referring to _your_ music, _your_ talent. _You_, Shannon."

He smiled awkwardly. "Thank you."

"I've never known someone who loves what he does as much as you do, who puts so much of his soul into his work," she turned to look at him. "It's enviable."

"No, don't look at me, I think I'm blushing," he joked, turning her head back to face the sea. They laughed and finished drinking in silence, watching the sky redden as the sun fell.

"I can only think of a few things more beautiful than watching the sun setting in the ocean," she said when the water turned orange. "For someone who was born and raised on the other side, this is breathtaking"

Shannon agreed. "It's too bad that after a while you get used to it. It's also why I like coming here, to remember when I forget."

As darkness fell, they got up, put their clothes on and packed everything to go. Melany pulled Shannon by the hand and leaned him against the rock. He held her waist, surprised.

"Close your eyes," she asked and let go of his hands gently as he obeyed. "Don't peek!"

"You're not getting away with my bike and leaving me alone here, are you?" He asked with his eyes closed."

"That wouldn't be fun unless you were naked," she said, rummaging in her backpack and writing something. She took the book and placed it in his hands. "There you go."

Shannon opened her eyes and saw that he was holding the second volume of her series. "Oh, you're so adorable!" He smiled, amused.

"I wrote a dedication, but promise me you will only read it when you get home."

"I promise," he squeezed her hand. "You're very very pretty," he said, kissing her cheek and taking his time on it.

They went to dinner at the hamburger place she liked, and he took her home later. They entered the apartment laughing, Melany went straight to her room, took her shoes off and put on a slipper. Shannon followed her and threw her on the bed, falling to her side. They laughed and hugged, pushing and twisting hands at the same time until he pulled her by the waist, leaving her tightly against his body and pressing his forehead against hers. Melany bit her lower lip and buried her fingers in his hair, as if to bring him even closer. She closed her eyes and dropped her hand across his jaw line as he pressed against her, grabbing her waist and her butt. She felt him and squeezed his arm tightly, then took a deep breath, grabbed his face and turned away, opening her eyes and finding his, confused and full of desire. Shannon tried to approach her again and she held his face harder.

"No… let's not ruin this," she murmured.

"Melany…" he squeezed her leg tightly and let go, looking at her and running his tongue over his lips.

She pulled his face close again and started talking inches away from his mouth. "Shannon, I'm dying to have you," she sighed, "but let's take it easy, okay? I don't want to risk ruining everything... And if I kiss you now," she struggled to get away, "I will lose what little control I was able to gather."

Shannon went belly up in bed and put his hands to his face, breathing hard, while Melany got up and went to the bathroom. When she came out, he was waiting in the living-room.

"Tell me you don't hate me, please." She asked, approaching and putting her hands in her pocket. He pulled her close and held her face.

"You'll have to try harder to make me hate you." She sighed in relief.

"What happened to 'I'm not trying to seduce you and I just want to be your friend'?" She asked, holding his hands.

He laughed and bit his lip, shrugging. "That was before." She smiled and nodded. "And if I remember well," he pulled her and hugged her, "this lady was all shy and nervous around me."

"Yeah, I think we share that guilt," Melany buried her head in his chest. "But you understand, right? You are not just any guy, we can't just sleep together like that."

"I get it," he kissed the top of her head. "You're right. This won't be easy, but you're right."

They said goodbye and he went away tired and with a deep pain between his legs, but happy and surprised with how the day had turned out, leaving behind an equally exhausted, excited and satisfied Mellany. He got home and went straight to his room, carrying her book with him. He threw himself on the bed and turned the cover to read the inscription, written in a hurry and black ink.

"_Shannon, no one has ever been interested in me like this before, thank you for the best day I've ever spent in this city. I hope you continue enjoying Alexia in this book and I don't disappoint you in the end._

_-Mel"_

He took his phone and texted her:

"_And I hope to have more days like this with you. Good night, sweetie."_

He put the book and the phone down and fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	7. Inspiration

The next day Shannon came downstairs yawning, made a big cup of coffee and locked himself in the studio. They would begin rehearsing for the European leg of the tour that afternoon, but he still wasn't able to concentrate on music. He thought he wanted to spend some time alone, but found himself thinking about Melany all the time, picking up the phone several times to call her and giving up soon after. He sighed and sank into a chair, picking up the guitar and letting his fingers run across the strings, aimlessly. He closed his eyes and remembered the events of the previous day, her shy smile, her sad look, easy laughter, green bikini, of how he found impossible not to touch her. And at the end of the night... he haven't planned or anticipated any of that, the attraction between them had arisen naturally, which made her even more irresistible. It wasn't normal for him to wait for sex, if it didn't work, it didn't work and he was out the door looking for someone else. But with Melany it was different, he was crazy to have her but at the same time he agreed that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for them to have sex now. And anyway, he wanted it to be special, she wasn't just another girl. He remembered once more of how good that green bikini had looked on her, of their bodies stuck in bed, her skin shivering at his touch.

"Fuck!" He got up angry, feeling his underwear tighten. He ran back to his room and took a hot shower trying to relieve himself and relax, hoping that it would help him stop thinking about her that way. He came out of the shower and fell on his bed, still naked and wet, staring at the phone. He took a deep breath and called her hoping he would sound as natural as possible.

"Hi, Shann."

"Hi, Mel. Are you busy?"

"Writing."

"Can you stop for lunch?" She took her time before answering.

"It's 10 AM, Shannon."

"I know," he giggled nervous. "Shit, sorry, I just wanted to see you."

Melany sighed. "No, that's okay. Come here, we'll eat something later."

"If you don't..."

"No," she interrupted, "No, Shannon... I... I want to see you too."

He smiled. "I'll get there in a minute."

* * *

Melany hung up the phone and hugged her knees, thinking of the previous day. She wondered if she had done the right thing by asking them to wait. It felt like she did, but she couldn't stop thinking about him ever since he left. And what she wanted to wait for? She remember the night she met Jared, she had escaped with him to a bathroom at the party they were at with only the vaguest notion of who he was. Not that it was his fault, Jared was naturally seductive, nothing was forced on her. After a few months together, even Melany began to suspect that most of the time, he had no concept of the power he had over people around him. She had never considered a big deal going to bed with someone right away, she had always done things that way. But she never felt for anyone what she was feeling for Shannon, that constant presence of him in her thoughts, and she couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not. She didn't even know how to explain that other than plain curiosity. She only knew she wanted him around, she enjoyed the way he treated her, his hugs, his touch on her waist. She closed her eyes, remembering the heavy breathing and the volume in his pants pressed against her.

"Fuck!" She was startled to hear the intercom. She let him go up and ran to the bathroom to throw some cold water on her face. She looked in the mirror and took a deep breath when she heard a faint little knock on the door. "You can do this, Melany," she whispered and went to the living-room.

Shannon was standing outside the door with his hands inside his pockets and staring at the floor. When she opened the door, he lifted his head and looked surprised, making her uncomfortably aware that she was in her pajamas. Actually, it was just an old and worn out Aerosmith shirt, big enough to cover her legs down to the middle of her thighs. He smiled awkwardly and pointed at her chest, "other than that jacket we talked about, we have to get you some new pajamas."

She blushed and stepped out of the way, letting him in and closing the door behind them. "I feel more comfortable sleeping with old shirts," she shrugged.

"Take one of mine, then. They look good on you." He approached her hesitantly and rugged her, whispering in her ear, "hi."

"Hi," her gasp was muffled by his shoulder and she hugged him tight. She felt her skin crawl and pulled away reluctantly. "I'm gonna take a quick shower, get yourself comfortable. There's coffee in the kitchen." She walked away in quick steps and ran into the bathroom.

When she returned to the living-room, Shannon was sitting on her mattress with her laptop on his lap and a cup of coffee in one hand. "Oh, sorry," she put the computer on the table, "I was taking a look at your notes, I hope you don't mind."

Melany ran her fingers through her wet hair and raised an eyebrow. "It's full of spoilers there for you, but that's okay as long as you don't tell anyone." She filled a cup for herself and sat beside him. "So, what do you think?"

They discussed the books for two hours, then they went to the diner on the corner of her street for lunch.

"But I don't know, Shann," she spoke with her mouth full of fries, "I'm kinda stuck on that part and my deadline for the manuscript is almost over."

"How long?"

"Within three weeks."

He grimaced, "yeah, that's not enough time. But I can help you, can't I?"

Melany smiled and held his hand. "You're adorable, but you can't write for me."

"No, but I can keep you in an inspiring environment."

"What do you mean?" She laughed.

"I think it would be good for you to change the scenery a bit," he passed some fries into a mound of ketchup thinking. "Do you think you could write at my place?"

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "Shannon, this is serious stuff, don't play games."

"But I'm serious! Look, today we'll start rehearsing for the upcoming shows in Europe, there will be a lot of people in the house and I will barely have time to be around you."

"And where do you expect me to stay, your room?" She asked, mocking.

"Well... yeah."

"Shannon!"

"I'll spend all my time locked in the studio!" She looked at him suspiciously. "I swear I won't be a distraction" he teased pulling the corner of his mouth. "But seriously, apart from a change of scenery, you will be close to everyone who likes you. And we have a pool!" He took her hand in his, "says yes, please?"

Melany licked her lips suspiciously. "You won't tie me to bed and break my foot if I decide to kill Alexia, will you?"

Shannon laughed loudly, drawing attention from the other tables. "I won't!"

She sighed. "Okay, Annie Wilkes."

"Was that a yes?" He perked up.

"I must have hit my head in the shower," she laughed, "but I'll go. If things start to go wrong I'll come back, okay?"

"Alright!" Shannon leaned over the table and kissed her cheek, smiling. "And nothing will go wrong, you'll see."

Melany shook her head, laughing at him.

* * *

They entered the house and the crowded room, said a quick hello to everyone and went to Shannon's room so she could leave her things there.

"Do you want to stay here?" He asked seriously.

"No, Jared saw me down there, I'll go give him a kiss and explain what I'm doing here."

Shannon agreed and went downstairs with her, most people were already going to the main studio behind the house. Tomo walked by and stopped to greet Melany.

"Look at you, it's been a while!" They hugged and exchanged a few words and Tomo went to the studio, talking to Emma. Shannon stood there, looking at the them and then turned to Melany, hands in his pockets.

"Go, it's ok," she touched his shoulders.

He looked at her and Jared and nodded. "Ok, you're home, remember that," he kissed her forehead. "We are waiting for you," he said to his brother and walked away.

Melany smiled at Jared and crossed her arms, walking towards him. Reclining on a shelf, he reached out and cupped her face. "You don't owe me any explanation," he said, seriously.

"And what about that frowny face?" She asked, hands on her hips. He laughed and crossed his own arms, looking down.

"I'm not mad, Mel. But it will take me a while to get used to you two." He looked at her, "are you really together?"

"No… I don't know," Melany replied slowly and bit her lip. "Seriously, Jared, I don't know what's happening. Things are a bit weird." She shrugged and turned her palms up, "we're getting to know each other, how's that for an answer?"

"Lousy," they both laughed.

"I'm running against the clock and I have half of my manuscript blocked somewhere up my ass, your brother said I could stay here and use the inspiring environment to make my ideas flow."

"Your ideas, is that it?" He teased.

"Jared!" She pushed his arm lightly, and he held her hand, looking into her eyes.

"You don't need to explain yourself, Mel, I mean it. Your adults, you know what you're doing."

She stepped forward and buried her face in his chest. "I have no idea what I'm doing!" He laughed and hugged her too.

"So don't forget that I'm still here if you want to talk."

Melany looked at him, resting her chin on his chest. "Really?"

"Of course," he stroked her hair. "And I promise I won't try to sabotage you."

They laughed and she snuggled in his arms. "Jared?"

"Hum?"

"Promise me you won't get weird with Shannon too?"

"I promise." He hugged her stronger and released her with a smile. "Now go move your little fingers, I need to go to the studio."

Melany thanked him softly before climbing the stairs back to Shannon's room. She looked around and smiled, feeling actually pretty comfortable there. She sat on the pillows that were strewn around the bed, opened her laptop and started writing.


	8. Full Circle

Shannon pulled his brother aside when they took a break. "So is it ok for her to stay here?"

Jared sat on the window ledge and pulled the hair from his face. "Dude, it's your house too, you don't need to ask permission." Shannon looked at him seriously, making him sigh. "I'll tell you what I told her, okay? I'm not mad, but it's gonna take a while for me to get used to seeing you two together, do don't expect me to be full of joy right now."

"Jared, we're not together."

"Look at me and tell me that you don't want anything from her." They both stared at each other in silence for a while until Jared laughed and crossed his arms, looking at the floor. "I knew this was going to happen."

"But do you think it's a bad thing?" Shannon asked inpatient. "Do you think I'm gonna hurt her?"

"I hope not!" He spoke louder, staring at this brother again. "I'm sorry, but if one of you hurt the other…"

"What are you going to do?"

He threw his head back and took a deep breath, running his tongue through his lips. "Do you at least know what you want?" Nothing but silence from Shannon. "Is it just sex?"

"No, of course not." He leaned on the wall, awkwardly. "And we didn't even kiss, to tell you the truth." Jared raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"You must really care for each other," he gave a sad smile.

Shannon shrugged, "she speaks a lot about you."

"Does she now?" Jared teased.

"Fuck you. She loves you, it's tough to compete with that." He tried to hold a serious look, but ended up laughing with his brother.

"Shannon, look, be patient. If she didn't like you, she wouldn't have come here," he put his hair behind his ear, "she's not here because of me, she's in _your_ room." He got off the window pointing the other's chest.

"Shit," he laughed, shaking his head, "I'm not that young anymore, I'm not supposed to act like this."

"Neither is she. Or me, for that matter." Jared laughed with him. "Ah," he snapped his fingers, "Aerosmith!"

"Sorry?"

"She loves Aerosmith. There, it's the last piece of advice I'm going to give you."

* * *

He opened the door slowly, trying not to surprise her. Melany was lying in bed, her back to him, hovering over a book that was consuming all of her attention. Shannon walked in the room and closed the door and she didn't notice anything. He leaned against the wall and watched her move her legs, distracted, as if she really was a little girl. After a while he cleared his throat to get her attention, even like this she got a little scared and looked back with her eyes wide open, trying to hide what she was reading.

"Shannon! How long have you been here?" She asked, trying to put the book under a pillow, which made him think about the object for the first time.

"What do you have behind your back?" He sat by her side and got closer, taking the book off her hands. His expression shifted as soon as he realized what it was.

"I'm sorry!" Melany covered her face with her hands. "Oh God, Shannon, I'm so sorry!" He was silent, tapping the brown cover with his fingertips. "I was looking for a notepad and a pen on your desk and I found this book in the middle of your things. I was curious to see what it was and, well, I couldn't stop reading it." She snapped her fingers, nervous, waiting for a reaction that was taking too long to come. "Please, say something!"

"Did you like it?" He asked, calm.

"If I liked it? I thought it was amazing, I forgot about _my_ book to read yours." Shannon laughed without amusement and said nothing. "Are you… mad?" Melany tried, confused.

He turned to her. "Mad? No. I know you didn't do it on purpose. But there is a reason why I still haven't told you about this," he waved the book.

"What is it?"

"I'm ashamed of it," he answered like it was obvious, shrugging.

Melany bit her lower lip, trying to hold back a smile. "You're so silly, ashamed of what?"

"Of everything that's written, of having tried to embellish things that really happened with fiction." Melany rested her arm on the bed and leaned her head, smiling at him with admiration. "Don't look at me like that," he smiled. "A lot of the things that you've read really happened, Mel, and I'm not proud of them."

"I know, but that's the beauty of it, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

She crossed her arm over his back and rested her chin on his shoulder. "At least for me, the main thing about reading a book is trying to understand how much of what is written is true, how much of reality did the author used when he was creating. There are bad writers, those who can't walk freely between fantasy and inspiration, and there are good writers, the ones who tease me and leave me wondering and awake at night trying to unriddle their minds." Shannon looked at her, smiling. "And you, mister, you seem to have it in you to tease me more and more every single day." She finished giving him a long kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, Mel…" He put the book aside and turned to her, putting a hand on her leg and fixing his looks at it. "And you didn't feel bad reading any of this?"

Melany still had her body pressed against his and she shook her head. "Why would I?" Shannon shrugged, she searched for the hand that was on her leg and intertwined their fingers. "Shann," with her other hand at the base of his neck, she made him look at her, "I think I've finally found someone who understands me. Now I'm the one who wants to know you better." He opened his lips a little and passed his free arm over her waist, resting his hand on the base of her back. Melany moved forward and eliminated the few inches they had between them, kissing the corner of his mouth. She felt his breathing getting heavier while her own heart beats fastened, both of them painfully aware of their bodies. Shannon squeezed her leg and brought her even closer, grabbing her hair and clenching his jaw.

"If you really want to wait," he said between his teeth, his eyes closed, "don't do this anymore." Holding her face tight, he kissed the corner of her mouth and passed his lips over her neck, feeling her skin shiver. Melany gasped for air and pushed him away, getting up.

"Stop, stop, stop!" She repeated in a low voice, walking from one side of the room to the other and shaking her hands and her arms in front of her. Shannon thrown himself in bed and used his hands to cover his eyes while laughing. She held her hair on the top of her head with one hand and stopped walking, putting the other hand on her waist and looking at him. "Oh, you'll pay me for this."

He turned to his side and rested his head on one hand, blinking and smirking. "I can't wait."

Melany shook her head trying not to laugh. She got the laptop that was on top of the pillows by the bed and sat with it by the desk. "It's better if we stay like this, far away from each other!" She spoke, stretching her arms in front of her body.

Shannon curved his lips. "But this totally ruins my plains for tonight." She stared at him, twitching her mouth and raising her eyebrows. He laughed again. "No, not fooling around, I want to take you out tonight," she continued, rolling in bed so he could be face to face with her.

"Take me out where?" She smirked and leaned his head. "Another surprise?" She laughed and he nodded, biting his lower lip and laughing with her.

"Are you in?" She scratched her head, looking at her laptop. "We're not going out now, you still have time to write."

"Yeah, give me a couple of hours or more, okay?" Shannon nodded and got off the bed, passing by her to go to the bathroom. She held his hand, making him turn around. "I was serious, okay? About those things you've written… and about getting to know you better." He got on one knee in front of her and smiled, stroking her hand.

"I know, Mel. You know, it's really really hard not to like you." He got up and kissed the top of her head. "I get now why Jared hid you from me for so long," he said in a lower voice and turned to the bathroom, leaving Melany smiling at her screen.

* * *

She closed her eyes and threw her head back and her arms up, letting her body move with the beat of the music. She felt Shannon behind her following her moves, and turned to him, smiling. The floor was crowded in a way that you couldn't move without touching the person next to you, but they were only paying attention to each other in the middle of the blue flashes. When the music got more quiet, Melany hooked her fingers into the pockets of his jeans, pulling and pushing his hips and shaking her head at the same pace. Shannon let her, smiling and provoking her, squeezing her arms and her waist. The beat was increasing gradually until they were back to jumping and ended up hugging one another, exhausted and laughing. She walked in front of him and got off the floor, taking him to the bar.

"Order something, I'm going to the toilet, I'll be right back," she squeezed his arm softly and disappeared on the stairs. While she was washing her hands, Melany stared at her reflection on the mirror, her hair was messy and sweaty and her smile was bigger than it ever was in the last couple of months. She climbed back the stairs to the bar and saw two women whispering something into Shannon's ear and leaving afterwards. "Did I take too long?" She asked, sitting next to him on the stool.

"Mel!" He jumped. "Of course not, I know those two from before, I used to come here a lot. They recognized me and came here to bother me, that's all." He shrugged, drinking his beer and putting the other bottle in front of her. "Are you jealous?" He teased, smirking.

"Oh, shut it!" Melany pushed his leg and looked around. "This place is nice."

Shannon nodded. "Soon the DJ will stop playing and will give place to a band."

"Really? Which band is playing today?"

"I don't know, they're all starting, the owners let them open or close the night when there's not too many people. It's nice to watch the show from here," he pointed at the stage behind the dancing floor, "and usually they play good covers too."

"Cool. It's been a while since I don't come to bars like this." She smiled and finished her beer. Shannon ordered two more.

"Where did you use to go out in NY?"

"Hotel parties, usually. Friend's apartments, places like that. I imagine Jared has already given you my complete background."

He laughed, raising his hands. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"No, that's ok, I know enough about your past, you have the right to ask me a few things."

"So I have one more question," he held her hand. "Are you having fun with me?"

"Ah, Shannon!" Melany threw her head back and laughed. "Of course I am!"

"Aren't you missing the times when you slept with guys you didn't know and woke up without a clue of what happened the previous night?" He smiled.

She squeezed his leg. "It depends. Are you missing the times when you slept with artificial blondes you met at bars?" She pointed to the place where the two women from before had disappeared.

He shook his head. "No." He played with a lock of her dark hair as if to prove that he didn't miss the blondes. Leaning closer, he whispered in her ears, "I'm going crazy just thinking of you."

Melany smiled and pulled away, pretending not to shiver. "Then you have my answer."

A few minutes later, as Shannon had said, the DJ stopped playing and after a break the band came to the stage and proceeded to a short sound check. Melany saw the microphone stand full of colorful scarves and held Shannon's arm in excitement. "Is this an Aerosmith cover?" She asked, jumping from the stool and heading back to the dance floor.

Shannon took their beers and went after her. "Surprise!" He said, giving her her bottle and putting his arm across her shoulder. "You look like a little girl when you're excited," he laughed.

"Did you seriously brought me here because of them?" She took her beer and turned to face him.

"I wanted to distract you a little, I don't know," he said in an awkward way. "It's not the original, but…"

"But nothing, Shannon. This is perfect!" She threw her arms around his waist and hugged him. "Really perfect, thank you."

He smiled and pressed her head against his chest. "I'm glad you really like Aerosmith, I was wondering that Jared might have said it just to make me look like a fool!"

Melany pulled away and took the bottle to her mouth, smirking. "Shannon Leto, were you asking your brother for tips?" Shannon scratched his head and sighed. "And he gave them to you?!" She continued, smiling.

"Yeah, wel… yeah."

"Oh, man!" She hugged him again. "You guys are the best!" She drank again and started to dance at the first notes of _Walk This Way_, while the floor started to get crowded again, and Shannon watched her, happy that he was making her smile that way.

* * *

"_And if!_" Melany threw her arms around his neck, singing and looking into his eyes. "_There's a spell on you that I could take away, I would do the deed, yeeeeah and by the way._" She put the hand that was holding her bottle between them and pointed her index finger, raising her eyebrows. "_Here's to Heaven know's as the circle gooooooes,_" she put her arms up and closed her eyes, "_it ain't right, I'm uptight, yeah and get off my toes!_" She looked back at him, "_I used to think that every little thing I did was crazyyyyy, but now I think the Karma cops are comin' after yoooouu._"

"_Time, don't let it slip away. Raise yo' drinkin' glass, here's to yesterday. In time, we're all gonna trip away. Don't piss Heaven off, we got Hell to pay. Come full circleeeee._" They sang the chorus together, Shannon holding her waist tight while Melany threw herself back and screamed with her eyes closed.

She put the arm that was holding the beer around his neck and held his face with the other hand. "_Every time you get yourself caught up inside of someone else's crazy dream, own it, yeah that's a mistake. Everybody's gotta lotta nada killing them instead of killing tiiiiime._"

Shannon smiled and kissed her cheek, pressing her against his body. They stayed like that during the solo and until the end of the song.


	9. Irrisistible

When the sun hid behind the palm trees that stood on the other side of the pool, Melany kicked her slippers away, bringing her knees to her chest and her hand to her hair. The pool area was quiet, except for a breeze blowing gently, forming small ripples on the water. She was staring at some point beyond the laptop and completely lost in her thoughts and her characters. After going out with Shannon Monday night, she had spent the rest of the week buried in her computer, working on the final events of her book. Writing for more than 12 hours straight, only stopping to eat and rest for a while when Shannon, Jared or even Emma forced her to do so. She was getting into a trance that she only experienced when she was more inspired than the usual, or when she was running to meet a deadline. At first she doubted she would be able to write with so many people around her and so much going on, but she was surprised to see her progress in only a few days.

In spite of his own work and the amount of hours he spent practicing, Shannon helped and encouraged her enough, either discussing about the development of the story or just making sure she always had a cup of coffee next to her. Melany couldn't believe it when he told her the night before that he had already read all of the published books so he could give a better and more educated opinion on the future of her series, if of course she asked for it.

"You either really liked my story or really liked me and it's just trying to show off," she said wearily, just before falling asleep.

He smiled and hugged her in bed, stroking her head. "A little bit of both, maybe."

Melany went to their house thinking about sleeping in separate beds, even if in the same room. However, in her first night there, they got back from the bar a bit drunk and ended up sleeping in the same bed. Neither one of them talked about it on Tuesday, and the following nights passed by in the same way. On Wednesday she had already come to the conclusion that that was contributing to slightly decrease the urgency that they were feeling for each other. They both worked a lot when awake and when they went to bed neither had too much energy for anything other than sleep. They were creating the habit of falling asleep telling each other about what they'd done during the day; this way, she narrated to him first hand her next publication, and he told her about their ideas for the upcoming concerts and new compositions. Almost unwittingly, they were getting to know each other the best way they could.

More dangerous was when, in the afternoon, Shannon took a break to bring her coffee and caught her by surprise, hugging her and kissing the corner of her mouth. Those kisses had become frequent and even caused a weird moment with Jared the day before.

"Fuck, man, do you really have to do this?" He was trying not to yell at Shannon inside the house, in a hallway where Melany could see them from where she was outside.

"Jared, stop being an idiot! She needs to write, you take her concentration away by getting angry like this."

"Alright, and those kisses are now part of her creative process?"

Melany knew that Jared was struggling to accept everything and be cool, and she recognized that Shannon, unwittingly or not, sometimes wasn't very careful around his brother. She talked about this sometime before bed and Shannon promised he would be more careful.

"We don't have to lie, but it's not necessary to rub this in his face, don't you think?"

"This what?"

"Our... friendship."

Shannon was silent for a while before saying "yeah, you're right."

She turned in bed so she could face him. "Hey, don't be like that."

"No, Mel, it's okay," he shook his head and kissed her forehead.

After testing some places, Melany discovered that she could concentrate better by the pool, since she could sit by the table under the umbrella or sprawled on cushions by the water if she wanted to. With the boys rehearsing, only a few amount of people stayed in the garden sometimes to take a break or eat something. Most of the time she was alone listening to the noises of the Wind stirring the leaves around her, there she had the perfect combination of isolation and company that she needed to write.

With her head buried in her arms, she heard Shannon approaching and putting two cups of coffee on the table in front of them. Keeping her arms around her knees, Melany turned her head sideways to look at him.

"How are you doing?" He asked putting his arma round her shoulders.

"Hum," she reached for the coffee, "I needed this."

He chuckled looking at the pool. "Do you want to do something today?" Melany twitched her mouth. "Oh, come on, you've written so much, you can afford to rest on the weekend." He put his hand on her knee.

"I'm not feeling like going out, what do you want to do?"

"We can go to the beach at night, something like that."

Melany smiled and nodded. "How are things in there?"

"You're missing," he winked at her.

"Aaah!" She clapped her hands and laughed. "Shannon, don't be silly. I'll go there as soon as I finish this chapter, okay?" She pointed at the laptop.

"All right," she got up, kissed the top of her head and left, taking his coffee with him.

While Melany wrote again, Shannon went to the kitchen and found Emma talking on the phone. He sat on the bench, holding the mug with both hands.

"Hey, stud." Emma hung up and sat in front of him. Shannon raised his eyebrows and they laughed. "You like her, don't you?"

"Maybe," he sighed. "I don't know what I feel.

"I have to admit I was surprised when Jared told me that you haven't slept together yet."

"Because of me of because of her?"

"Both." He grunted and rested his head in one hand. "If you want my opinion," Emma reached out and touched his arm, "I think you are doing the right thing."

"How come?"

"Because this is completely messed up and you better be sure of what you're doing before it gets worse. Even if Jared and Melany didn't have a past, you'd have to be very careful not to hurt each other. You're both so passionate and... it's dangerous." Shannon didn't answer, and she continued, "anyone can see they way you look at each other, it's more than just a physical attraction."

"I wouldn't be so sure, Emma."

"Why? What happened?" She frowned.

"We spent a wonderful day on Sunday. The attraction was just... there, you know? It was natural. But at the end of the day she said she wanted to wait, that she didn't want me to be just another guy. And I get that and I agree with her, because I don't want her to be just another girl either, she deserves more than that. So I decided to bring her here and take this time to get to know her better."

"And what's the problem? Does she snore?"

"Screw you, Emma!" They laughed. "No, the problem is that what I feel for her, whatever it is, gets stronger every day, but sometimes I think she just sees me as a friend." He finished, shrugging.

"Ah, Shann, why do you say that? You are sleeping in the same bed, for God's sake!"

"You know this means nothing to her, she's used to sleeping in the same bed with Jared too." He raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice, "and I don't want to be a second Jared in her life, I want..." he stopped and looked at his coffee.

"What do you want?"

"I don't want her to think that we are nothing but friends with benefits."

Emma smiled. "Try not to complicate things, Shann. Mel only knows two sides of things, sex and friendship, she never had anything in between, not even with Jared. Go slowly, respect her, gradually show her what you want. In time she'll get used to the idea and she'll realize that she wants the same thing."

He sighed, nodding. "You do a fine job disguising your soft side under all the sarcasm."

"I'm not on the spot today," she stood up. "Come on, boss must be complaining by now."

They left the kitchen and returned to the studio behind the house. Passing through the corridor leading to the pool, Shannon saw Melany with her back turned to him, staring at the cup of coffee that was still on the table.

* * *

A few hours later, Emma silently opened the sliding door leading to the garden and surprised Melany pulling her arm.

"Have you finished your work today?"

"Shit, Emma! You scared me!" She rubbed her eyes wearily. "I did, I guess. I was just reading it one last time."

"Okay, Mel, you can do that later. Now close it and come with me." She continued pulling her arm.

"Do you really need me right now?"

"It's Friday, late afternoon, and even Jared is willing to wrap things up earlier today. The way you are writing, you can finish this manuscript with a week off in time." Emma put her hands on her hips, making a face. "So do yourself a favor and enjoy the weekend."

Melany sighed and surrendered, closing the laptop. "Where are we going?"

"That's my girl!" She clapped her hands excitedly. "We're going to the studio, I know two boys that are dying to show off for you."

"Oh, Emma," Melany rolled her eyes, laughing, "you're not real!"

They passed through the glass door and went down the hall and around the house to a closed door, a few steps below. Emma entered the room full of people first, guiding them to a battered sofa in the opposite corner, facing the boys. Melany nestled in a corner of the sofa with the laptop on her lap, her face lighting up to see them play City of Angels. Although she liked their music, she always avoided going to the shows and have never seen Shannon and Tomo playing live or even rehearsing. She crossed her legs under her and leaned forward, marveling at their interaction, even when they made mistakes and cursed each other, always laughing.

When the song finished, Shannon took a sip of water from the bottle beside him and tried his best not to look at the couch. Jared, however, took advantage of the noise of the conversation around the room to go and kneel in front of Melany, fiddling with her hair and making her smile the way only she could smile; like a little girl who had just won something. At that moment, he envied his brother. Not because he went to talk to her, but because Melany would never love him the way that she loved Jared, and because, deep down, she would always compare the two of them. He sighed tiredly and snapped his fingers, tapping some song that was in his head.

"Night of the Hunter, and then we'll wrap up." Jared returned to the stool next to Tomo, giving Shannon a signal for him to begin.

It was Melany's favorite song and she was dying to see Shannon playing it. She loved the way he brought their songs to life, conveying so much strength and energy in every beat. She admired the musician that Shannon was since she was dating Jared and she heard him praising his brother; she'd never forgot one time when Jared said that Shannon had the talent, and he only did the best he could. That was not true, Jared was a very talented guy too, though he would put himself down most of the time, but she knew that what Shannon had was indisputable. He played with all his strength and concentration, and she only had eyes for him.

"Could you be more obvious?" Emma nudged her arm gently. Melany just muffled a giggle, never taking her eyes away from him. "You guys are really silly," she shook her head. "I wish he could see you looking at him like this."

"Why?

"No reason. Just promise me you'll give him a chance?"

Melany turned to her with a faint smile. "I'm doing my best, Emma."

The song was over and Tomo shouted, closing the rehearsal day. While everyone else was packing their things and heading to the garden, Emma pulled Jared to a corner to show him an email on her phone, and Melany ran towards Shannon. He took off his ear plugs slowly and got off the drum set with a serious look on his face, but before he could say anything she jumped in his arms and held the base of his neck.

"That was amazing, Shannon" she whispered in his ears and gave a gentle and long kiss on the corner of his mouth.

Surprised, he hugged her tight and smiled. "Thank you, sweetie."

"So, let's go to the beach?" She asked excited.

"Are you sure? You were not so happy with that idea a few hours ago."

"I am! Come on, I wanna be alone with you," she winked and grabbed him by the hand.

Shannon let her take him to the hallway and then pulled her back, holding her shoulders. "Melany, don't start something that you won't finish."

She raised her arms in front of her chest, in surrender. "I wanna go to the beach with you anyway." He slowly passed his tongue through his lips, taking a deep breath and nodding.

Just like the first time, they rode his motorcycle to the desert beach, only now the full moon was following them there. There was an awkward feeling between them, neither one could hide it. Without saying anything other than what was necessary, they took a few branches on the beach and lighted a little fire. They were sitting in front of it with their legs crossed for a while until Shannon decided to talk.

"So, what's wrong?" He asked, turning to Melany, who had her eyes fixed on the flames.

"I'm really scared," she sighed. Shannon took a branch and started to play with it on the sand. Melany continued, "I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt _myself_. I don't want to hurt Jared."

"Jared again," he snorted impatiently.

"Stop being and asshole, Shannon!" She raised her voice a little bit, taking him by surprise. "Shit, I don't wanna get between you too, this is so… sick. He's my best friend, I love him, and you are…" She stopped talking, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm what, Melany? Say it." He looked at her frowning, the branch forgotten between his fingers.

"I don't know, Shann," she murmured and seemed like she was about to cry. "I don't know."

Shannon looked at the ocean beyond the fire while Melany was getting a cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it. He knew she smoked because he had already seen her doing it a couple of times before, when they didn't really know each other, but never in front of Jared. It occurred to him that she hadn't touched any smoke near him as well, probably because she knew he had quit a while ago, and he felt a twinge of remorse. He took the cigarette from her mouth and smoked it himself, looking at the fire. "This is going to kill you."

Melany shrugged, lit another one and gave it to him, taking the first one back e blowing off the smoke. "It's going to kill you too." They smoked in silence until she threw the butt on the fire and turned to face him. "I'm not playing games with you, Shannon." He was staring at her, a serious look on his face. "I really am deeply attracted to you, and you make me feel so good, but I don't want to drag you into my problems. I know that things are complicated now, I'm so nervous about everything that happened, plus my deadline… I'm scared to death, Shannon, please be patient with me." When she started crying, he came closer and hugged her.

"Shh, it's okay, Mel."

"No, it's not okay!" She held his face. "Don't you see it? You leave in a week, and I…" She buried her head on his chest and sobbed, "I don't want you to go."

Shannon pressed his head against hers and closed his eyes, tracing her jaw line gently with his fingertips. He touched her lips a little bit harder and pulled the lower one between his thumb and the side of his index finger, making her moan softly and clutch his back. He opened his hand and pressed it against her cheek, rubbing it 'till the base of her neck, where he pulled harder, locking her up even more. "Stop being so cute, Mel," he said in a low voice, pulling away from her. "Fuck, you're irresistible in any way."

Melany laughed, drying her face and hugging her knees. "Have you seen yourself playing Night of the Hunter? _That_ is irresistible!"

He smirked and then he was serious again, taking her hand. "Let's enjoy this last week, okay? Whatever happens, I'll be back in two months."

"Okay," Melany took a deep breath and held his hand tight.


	10. Goodbyes

Jared knocked on the door and walked through without waiting for an answer, finding Melany with her legs crossed on the couch, with Shannon's book on her lap. She looked up at him and stretched, smiling. "Good morning," she said in the middle of a yawn.

"Good morning. Shannon told me you were up." He sat across the couch, facing her. "And that you finished your manuscript yesterday.

"Yeah! Can you believe it?" She laughed. "I still get a little amazed everytime I finish something."

"I remember the other ones," he smiled and looked at the unmade bed. "I'm happy that you two are getting along, Mel, for real."

"He is so good to me, I feel like a bubbly teenager around him."

"I can tell! I've never seen you like this."

Melany bit her lower lip and spoke slowly, looking at her hands. "So... you're better with all this, right?"

"Yeah..." Jared sighed. "It's weird seeing you on this fake relationship, I would feel better if you just got oficial already, or stopped this at once. But, I don't know, as long as you're okay... I'm okay too."

"Well, it's gonna get complicated now, isn't it? You're leaving today and you are not coming back until the end of September," her lips twitched, "it's hard to maintain something that doesn't exist overseas."

"Yeah..." He nodded. "But that's what I want to talk to you about. Shannon asked me to convince you to go with us to Europe." Melany started laughing and Jared followed her. "I know, I tried to explain to him that you would never agree with this. But I talked to Emma anyway, we changed his flight for tomorrow morning."

"So you could have more time to try and convince me?" She asked, still laughing.

"So you could spend more time together, silly."

Shannon walked in the room with two cups of coffee on his hands. He looked at them laughing and smiled awkwardly, handing one of the cups over to Melany and sitting by her side. "There you go." He put one arm over her shoulder and looked curious from one to another.

"I was telling Mel that we changed your flight," Jared explained.

"Oh, yeah!" He gave a weary smile and tapped his fingers on his knees.

"Anyway," Jared got up and walked to the door, "I hope you enjoy this extra time you have together. Shannon, mom is coming to dinner tonight, before I leave for the airport. Are you going to be here?" Shannon looked at Melany in doubt. "Mel can stay too, if she wants."

She nodded and he answered, "yeah, of course we'll be here."

Jared left the room and Melany looked at Shannon, twitching her lips. "You know, he's trying really hard to please us, you don't have to get all tense around him."

"I'm trying really hard too, sweetie," he answered, holding her. "Since we have a day off today, I thought of going shopping, what do you think?"

Melany frowned, "shopping for what?"

"I really wanted you to had a jacket that fits you, so you don't get all awkward riding with me." She rolled her eyes and he laughed.

"Okay, I need to run some errands anyway." She took a sip of her coffee.

"Are you still reading this?" He pointed at the book on her lap.

"I'm going over my favorite parts again," they laughed. "Did you really punched that officer?"

He sighed and nodded with a faint smile. "But he knocked me out later, I left that part out."

* * *

After spending all morning nested on the couch, they went out for lunch at a mexican fast food and from there went shopping. Melany wasn't too comfortable with Shannon picking clothes for her and saying that he would pay for everything. They were already discussing when they entered the second store.

"Since you're insisting so much, Shannon, you know my size and my taste, buy whatever you want! I don't have to be here for this." She spoke, loosing her patience and turning to go out.

"Get back here!" He pulled her by the arm. "You don't have to be so angry, I just want to buy you a present."

"Oh, Shann, I know," she smiled and put her hand on his face. "But why don't you make it a surprise? Look, I have to go somewhere nearby. Can we meet at Starbucks in, say, an hour?"

Shannon agreed reluctantly and went back to the store, looking for someone who could help him. Just over an hour later, he was expecting Melany with several bags in his hand.

"Did you get the whole store?!" She surprised him, coming from behind.

"You didn't want to stay there with me," he smirked. "And you asked for a surprise."

Melany shook her head and pointed at the bag that she was carrying. "I got you something too, that's why I wanted to leave."

"Was it?" He pulled her by the waist.

"Mostly, yeah," she shrugged. "I'm a little uncomfortable with you buying things for me. We don't have anything..."

"For now, right?" He asked in a quiet tone. Melany looked down and put a hand on his chest without saying a word. Shannon sighed and let her go.

"Shann," she held his face, "let's not do this now, please. Not here, in the street."

He nodded with a serious look on his face. "Let's go get some coffee and go home, my mom should be there soon."

* * *

Melany threw the bags on the bed and turned to him, who was closing the door. "Let's trade now?"

Shannon shrugged, "whatever." She gave a sad smile and sat on the edge of his bed. He followed her and buried his hand in her hair, caressing the base of her neck. "I just wanted you to be with me, to stay there at least a little."

"I can't go."

"How do you make everything sound so easy?"

"What everything?" He stood up annoyed and leaned against the wall in front of the bed, staring at her with his arms crossed. "Don't look at me like that." Melany went to him and uncrossed his arms.

"Mel, we spent the last few weeks together, sleeping together all these days..." he grabbed her waist with one arm and held her face with the other hand, speaking slowly. "Don't try to pretend that you don't care, that it's not happening to you too."

"What is happening, Shann?" She had her hands clasped on the base of his neck and her head was slightly tilted back. She liked the feeling of his body against hers, the way he held her and looked her in the eyes, even now, serious as he was.

Shannon took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes and leaning his forehead against hers. "I think I'm falling for you." He felt Melany hold her breath and before he could move, her lips on his. It was a long, quiet kiss at first, a little uncertain, nothing like he had imagined it would be their first one. He tightened his grip around her waist and intensified the movement, being fully met. They pulled each other's hair, pinched faces and shoulders, moved at the same pace.

"Shannon?" A female voice called out, accompanied by a discreet little knock on the door, making them part as if they had taken a shock. Melany put her hands on her face, and Shannon caught a glimpse that she was crying. He took a step toward her, but she stopped him and pointed to the door, forming the words "your mother" with her mouth. Annoyed, he waited while Melany sat on the edge of the bed and wiped her face, then he opened the door.

Constance stood in the doorway, her hands clasped in front of her body and a funny smile on her face. Without saying a word, she hugged her eldest son and entered the room, heading towards Melany. "Mel, Mel," they hugged as if they were the besto f friends, "how long have I not seen you?"

"Too long, if you ask me, Connie!" Constance sat next to Melany.

"Connie? Do you know each other?" Shannon was still by the door, an amazement look on his face.

"Well, of course we do, Shann." Constance replied. "You know your brother is not na easy person, the women in his life need some aid." She winked at Melany, holding her hands.

Melany laughed with sincerity and turned to Shannon to explain. "Your mother went looking for me in NY once, without telling Jared about it. She knew I had just lost my parents and... well, she went looking for me." She looked at the woman beside her and smiled.

"But now I hear that Jared's got competition."

"Mom!"

"Connie!" Melany said at the same time, feeling her cheeks blushing.

Constance laughed at their reaction and stood up. "Well, I brought some pies and a few snacks, Jared and Emma must be eating already. Let's go down?" She smiled at them and left the room.

Melany followed her towards the stairs, but Shannon held her shoulders by the door. "Why were you crying?"

"Not now, Shannon," she tried to get away but he held her back.

"You won't have the nerve to pretend that that kiss didn't happen, will you?" He raised his voice. Melany pulled away with a jolt and ran down the stairs, leaving him standing in the doorway.

When he finally came down to the kitchen, where everyone was, Shannon saw her sitting between his mother and his brother, eating and laughing with them as if nothing had happened before Constance entered the room. He pulled up a chair and did his best to hide his irritation as he sat next to Emma, facing Melany on the other side.

"Shann, you didn't take Mel to the lake yet?" His mother asked, and he shook his head. "Well, it's a wonderful place, you should take her up there before you go away, what do you think?"

"I think Melany wants to go home," he aswered with a serious voice.

"No, I don't!" She squealed, half laughing, half serious. Shannon looked up at her and Jared, who stared at him, angry and frowning. After a few moments of an awkward silence, Melany spoke again. "I really want to see the lake, Shannon."

He stared at her trying to figure out what she really wanted, he couldn't believe how much his life had changed in just a few days beside her. He had gone from curiosity and a slight attraction to something much more serious, and she, at the same time seemed to reciprocate the feeling and acted like there was nothing going on, or as if it had no importance. He could live with this behavior because, somehow, he understood that it was something new, and she was reacting to it the way she could. But he couldn't stand to see her hiding behind Jared, using him to justify all the things that she wasn't able to take responsibility for. Finally, he sighed and nodded in agreement. "Okay, when they leave for the airport, we'll go to the lake."

Melany gave a weak smile in return and turned to Constance, changing the subject. The rest of the dinner went more smoothly, although there were still a heavy atmosphere between them. An hour later, Emma said they should go, and they all rose. Constance pulled Shannon aside while Melany said goodbye to the other two.

"Look, call me if you need anything, okay?" Emma said in the middle of a hug. "If you get into trouble and don't want Jared to know."

"What was I thinking when I decided to introduce you two, huh?" Jared said and pulled Melany into a hug. "I don't know what's going on with you two, Mel, but don't do anything you'll regret later." He pressed her head against his chest. "My mother will be in town, I'll ask her to check on you from time to time, ok?"

"Oh, Jared, don't do that. Don't bother her with that."

"You know she will do it even if I don't ask."

She giggled, "she will."

"So, cutie, don't you think you'll get to hide anything from me." He smiled and kissed her forehead, "But seriously, you only need to say a word and my mom will put you on the first plane to wherever I am."

Melany smiled. "Thank you, Jared. Have a good flight, you two. Don't kill each other."

While Jared and Emma gave Shannon a hug, Constance said goodbye to Melany with a promise to find her the next week and then she left to take her youngest son to the airport. Alone in the living-room, Melany and Shannon stood silent for a few minutes.

"Well, let's go to the lake?" She crossed her arms and stared at him. Without answering, Shannon went upstairs and returned shortly after with helmets and coats.

He threw her the coat he bought that afternoon, "I hope you like," he said without looking at her.

"Shannon..." she spoke softly and put it on. "It's beautiful, thank you."

He nodded. "Let's go?"

It was the worst ride they had together. Shannon was running more than usual, and she tried not to hold on to him too tightly. She was holding lightly the pockets of his coat, as to avoid touching him, but a few minutes later, she managed to hold the seat itself. Because he couldn't feel her hands, Shannon just looked in the rearview mirror to make sure she was still behind him, but continued to accelerate. They went through a dirt trail dimly lit, ending on a wooden deck that stood down over the lake surface. Melany got off the bike removing her helmet and he followed her, frowning.

"Okay, here it is." He held his arm up pointing to the water and dropped it. "Can we leave?"

"Fuck, Shannon!" Melany took off her coat and put it on the bike with the helmet. "Fuck!" She repeated and walked to the edge of the deck, taking her hands up ther head.

"Aaaaahhh," he shouted, taking off his coat and putting his own things beside hers. He walked to where she was and stopped a few paces behind. "What am I doing wrong, Melany?"

"Nothing!" She turned to him crying. "Damn, nothing! You are perfect!"

"So what's the problem? Do you like to suffer?"

She stared at him with a hurt expression and passed him by, going back to the bike. Shannon grabbed her arm and turned her tightly, his eyes fixed on her mouth.

"Shannon..." She said in a whisper just before he kissed her hard, squeezing her arms. Melany kissed him back with the same intensity at the same time trying to get loose. He rose his hands to her face, pressing hilsef against her. With her arms free, she buried her hands on his waist and pushed hard. "I don't want to," she put her hand over her mouth, "I can't..."

"Melany" Shannon cried out and held her again, kissing every corner of her face and neck in a hurry. "Mel..." He kissed her hard again, holding her neck and pressing her back. "Look at me," he held her face. Melany had her hands buried in his back and was trying hard not to cry anymore. "Do you trust me?" She nodded. "Then trust." He released her and stepped back, pulling the shirt he was wearing and dropping it on the deck. "It'll be okay." He unbuttoned his pants and took it off along with his underwear, throwing them both to the side. Melany tried to look away and shook her head, taking a deep breath as he turned and plunged into the water.

"What are you doing?" She asked when he reappeared. Shannon gave one of the most beautiful smiles she had ever seen on him and held out his arms towards her, calling her with his hands. "Shann, stop it." She crossed her arms hugging her body and trying to keep a straight face.

"Come on, sweetie, trust me." He insisted.

Melany turned her back to him and slowly removed her shirt and pants, leaving only bra and panties on. She put a hand over her breasts and used the other to loose the hook in the back, pulling the shoulder straps and letting the piece fall while she turned back to the water. Shannon bit his lower lip and smiled at her, swimming to the edge of the deck and leaning there. She slid her panties down and walked over it, walking up to the edge and crouching in front of him. Standing on her heels and slightly leaning forward, she stood face to face with him for a few seconds and smiled amused, getting up and diving over him.

Shannon turned and watched as she swam to the surface and then to him. He touched her waist, this time totally naked, and slid his hand to her belly, feeling the skin crawl. Melany smiled and closed her eyes, putting her hands on his belly and getting closer, kissing his neck and making his skin crawl too. Lowering his hand to her hip, Shannon pulled her even closer and brushed his lips over her shoulders, making his way to her ear.

"Better now?" He whispered in her ear, making her smile and nod slowly. He continued passing his lips through her jaw line and kissed her calmly, raising his hand to her breast and stroking her nipple lightly at first and then a little harder, making her moan softly in the middle of the kiss. With one hand, Melany gripped the edge of the deck behind them and with the other she touched him. Shannon, however, held her in that position and managed to turn around, pressing her against the wooden ledge and lowering his own hand to touch her, kissing her neck at the same time. He stimulated her until he felt her hand loose on the deck and her breathing getting heavier, then stopped and turned her to face him, grabbing her waist and rising them out of the water. He layed her down and kissed her breasts softly, pressing them tightly with both hands. He went down her body, gripping and scratching her thighs and her butt, biting and kissing her belly while Melany opened and hooked her legs around him, arching.

Getting on top of him, Melany crouched between his legs and touched him, alternating the speed and the movement, making him moan. When she felt he was about to cum, she replaced her hand with her mouth, but he stopped shortly after.

"No," he asked with his voice cracking, sitting down and putting her on his lap. "No," he repeated, kissing her neck and pulling her hair. "Let's do this nice and slowly," he smirked. Melany wrapped her legs around him and gasped when he finally penetrated her, holding her waist tightly and kissing her neck. She moved slowly on top of him, bending her body backwards and supporting her hands on his legs, letting him guide her movements. Near the end, Shannon pulled her close, and they came together, embraced and breathing heavily.

They lay there, their bodies wet with water and sweat, kissing and smiling. "Was it worth the waiting?" he asked, playing with her hair.

"Every second of it," they both laughed. "I don't know if I can wait two more months for that." She snuggled in his chest. "There is no vibrator in the world that can get close to you."

Shannon laughed loudly and grabbed her waist, leaning over her and kissing her again. "You know," he leaned over one arm and put his hand behind his head, standing on his side and caressing her belly. "You don't need to wait."

"Shannon..." she muttered, shaking her head and putting a finger over his lips.

"I'm serious, Mel." He took her hand and kissed the palm. "Come with me."

"It's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because!"

"But at least now you can admit that we have something, right?" Melany stood silent, and Shannon lay on his back, putting his hands over his eyes and giving a loud and desperate laugh. "You're kidding me! Tell me you're joking!"

"We spent too much time together, Shann." She stood up, gathered her clothes and began to dress. "But two months is enough time to cool things off."

"Are you crazy?" He stood up and began to dress as well. "Do you think I would accept waiting all this time to have sex with you if we were going to let things cool off after that?"

"Neither of us can commit to being alone for two months. So why put us in this situation?" Shannon froze with his shirt around his neck.

"So this whole fucking thing meant nothing to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Jesus Christ, Melany! You asked me to wait and I waited because I didn't want it to be just sex, because I thought you were special." Shannon cried out every word pointing his finger at her. "And now you're telling me that it was just sex. You knew I was falling for you! If it was just sex all this time, why did you let this happen?"

"Shannon, please!" She tried to hold his shoulders, but he walked away with a sudden movement.

"No! You know what? You and Jared fucking deserve each other!" Melany took her hands to her mouth and wasn't able to answer anything. "Let's go home, you grab your things, and I'll take you back to your apartment."

Without arguing, Melany climbed on the motorcycle behind him and packed her things in silence when they reached the house. With a lump in her throat, she put the bags with the clothes he had bought in the suitcase and saw her own gift to him still forgotten on the bed. She put the package on the pillow and went to the garage, where Shannon was waiting in the car. They drove in silence to her building, where he parked in the street and unlocked the door for her to get off, not even looking at her direction.

"Don't you want to go up and calm down a bit?" She asked, worried. He shook his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the street. She put her hand on his leg, "I'm really sorry for all this misunderstanding. I'll miss you like hell. Have a good trip, Shannon." Melany turned to leave the car, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her back, giving her the best kiss he could give and leaving her totally breathless.

"Don't forget what you're throwing away," he said with a serious look, holding her face. "And don't do anything stupid, for God's sake." He leaned over her and opened the door.

Melany muttered "you too" and got off with her suitcase, watching the him drive away until she lost sight of him.


	11. Pictures

The brown package was still on his pillow when Shannon jumped into bed tired and angry, thinking of taking a nap before packing up and heading to the airport. He tore open the package and pulled out a wad of A4 paper tied by some strings on the sides, he didn't even need to read the title to know what it was. He turned the page and felt his heart sink when he read the second page.

_ For you, Shannon, for helping me finish this book. Thank you. _

_ - "Love is love reflected"_

* * *

All the clothes were scattered on the bed, and Melany walked from one side to the other of the room with her hands on her hips. She kept picking up her phone and dialing Jared's number, giving up soon after. She went to the kitchen and took a bottle of whiskey and a glass from one of the cabinets, taking them to the living room window sill. She lost track of how long she sat there, drinking and smoking, looking at the sky. She woke up the next day, startled by the clarity and jumped into the room, burying her left foot on a shard of glass. Remembering the whiskey, she searched for it and found the empty bottle against the edge of the mattress used as a sofa. Shannon was somewhere in her memory, and it was the cigarettes that she felt in her back pocket that brought him forward. With a throbbing head and her heart accelerated by the whiskey, she limped to the bathroom to wash her feet and make a clumsy bandage.

She looked the time at her phone and remembered that he would board on his flight to London in half an hour. "Damn, Shannon," she sighed and rubbed her face with her hands, jumping into the kitchen to make coffee. Holding the mug with both hands, she sat at the table and stared at the phone. Finally, she decided to text Jared.

* * *

Emma watched apprehensively as they were fighting. It was nothing out of the ordinary that they discuss, but she had never seen something so ugly between them. She tried to call Melany back, while Jared shoved the phone in front of Shannon and screamed, "take care of him, I'll be fine. This was the last I heard from her! Can you tell me what happened?"

Shannon shrugged and gulped. "She's probably getting drunk and having a terrific time now. I wouldn't worry too much if I were you." And he walked out the door, heading towards his bedroom.

Jared turned to Emma. "You'd tell me if she had called you, right?"

"Yeah," she replied serious, "of course I would. Try to calm down, Jared, you have an interview in less than half an hour." He rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. "I'll get this call and be right back, okay?" She pointed to her phone vibrating in her hand and went into the hallway.

"Emma?" Melany said hoarsely.

"You will drive him crazy!" She whispered angry.

"How is he?"

"Jared? Jared is angry as hell. But if it's Shannon you're talking about, he's terrible." There was silence on the other side of the line. Emma sighed. "Mel, let at least one of them know that you are in Australia. Shann is doing his best to act like he doesn't care, but he's not fooling anyone. And Constance... She is also concerned in Los Angeles. I promised you I would keep your secret and I will, but it's been three weeks! They don't deserve this."

"Did Shannon slept with anyone there?"

"Melany..."

"Did Shannon went to bed with someone?"

"I'm not sure, Mel."

"Emma, quit the bullshit!"

"Damn it! I saw some models coming into his room with him last night." Melany gave a weak chuckle. "But don't think about this, Mel."

"Thank you, Em. Sorry about everything."

"No, wait!" She called, but Melany had already hung up.

* * *

"What are those papers?" The blonde woman lifted them from the nightstand and threw herself in bed.

Shannon snatched the manuscript from her. "Don't touch that!" He screamed and pulled her by the arm, pushing her still naked toward the door. "Go away."

"But I was just asking..."

"Put your fucking clothes on and get out of here!"

She got dressed and slammed the door on her way out, leaving him alone and angry. Shannon put his underwear and pulled out a cigarette from his jacket on the floor, going to the window to smoke.

* * *

Melany leaned on the bathroom sink and tried to breathe, feeling her head spinning. That place was so tight and so crowded that she thought she could take the steam with her hands, she couldn't breathe there. She staggered back to the dancing floor and found herself face to face with the man who she slept with a few nights ago.

"Oi, hey," he snapped her arm, "I looked everywhere for you."

She tried to scream and shoved him hard, almost falling to the ground herself. She stumbled a few steps forward and got lost in the crowd, slowly making her way to the street. She felt the shock in the temperature when she almost fell outside the bar, filling her lungs with cold air and leaning against the wall to recover. She noticed some people taking pictures, but didn't care about that. She needed to walk, she needed fresh air to clear her head.

When she thought she could stand she began to walk down the street, not exactly going somewhere. She had a vague idea of going back to the hotel and sleeping for the next few days, but she also wanted to go to the beach to watch the sunrise. She wondered what time it was where Shannon was, what he was doing at that moment. She took the phone as usual ignoring Jared's texts and stared for a few seconds at Shannon's contact picture, sliding her finger to make the call. Then she remembered what Emma said about the models and hung up the phone without even thinking. She ended up going to the hotel and throwing herself in bed.

* * *

"Travel safe, dear, call me as soon as you arrive." Jared closed the computer and turned, finding Shannon leaning on the door. "Oh, I was talking to Melany."

"I saw it," the older one snorted. "Next time you talk to her, ask her to stop calling me and hanging up before I answer."

"She only did that twice, Shannon. And as far as I know, you also called her when you were drunk sometimes." He shrugged, and Jared continued. "Anyway, she's going back to LA now, thought you might like to know."

Shannon nodded, arms crossed in front of his chest. "You know she was out with several different guys all this time, huh?"

Jared laughed at his brother. "And you have behaved like a saint!"

"Did she do these things with you too?" He ignored the comment and sat down on a free chair beside the table.

"What you haven't understand yet, Shannon, is that when we were together, Melany and I never did much besides sex. We were not friends, we just liked the company of each other in bed, nothing more. She never suffered for me the way she is suffering for you, and I never suffered for her the way you're doing. And we were sleeping with other people too!"

"Why did she go to Australia? I mean, she didn't come here with us, why go to Australia?" He licked his lips excitedly.

Jared shrugged. "No idea, but I imagine that she is afraid."

"Of me?"

"Of being with you." Shannon looked down and scratched his beard. "Look, try to talk to her. In a week we're going back, try to make things right before you get there. I would rather seeing you together than her with some idiot and you with some aleatory bitch.

"The same bitches you take to bed all the time?"

Jared smiled, nodding. "My point is, I threw away the chance I had with Mel, don't make the same mistake." He winked at his brother and left.

* * *

The phone rang and his name appeared on the screen. Melany took a deep breath, expecting him to be drunk again, and answered with some hesitation. "Hello?"

"Hi." He was sober.

"Hi."

"So... Australia."

"Yeah," she blew the cigarette smoke. "Australia."

"When you said you couldn't come with me, I thought you meant you couldn't leave LA. Why did you go to Australia?"

"I needed to clear my head a bit."

Shannon laughed. "Clear your head? You know that you were photographed almost every night there, right? Each night at different bar, a diferente guy."

"You had your fun with the entire catalog of European models."

"I guess we're even then." She could imagine his smile, so irresistible and so annoying at the same time. "But they weren't you, Mel."

"Yeah, I had the same problem with the Australians." She chuckled awkwardly and waited for him to continue.

"You're wearing the shirts I bought." It wasn't a question, and Melany was glad he noticed that in the pictures.

"Yup! Have you read..."

"Yes. That dedication, you wrote that in my copy or the book will be published that way?"

"The copy that they have is the same as the one I gave you."

He sighed. "Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but... you know, why can't you tell me that in person? Why didn't you say it to me when I said I was falling in love with you?"

"Because it's not that simple!"

"Was that why you were crying?"

"Shannon, I don't want to have this conversation over the phone."

"But..."

"Please, don't insist!"

"What the fuck, Melany! Can you even imagine how worried I was?" He started yelling.

"I just wanted to get away from everything, I didn't do anything stupid, like you said."

"Of course you did! You're stoned in every picture! I'm sure you don't even remember with how many different men you went to bed."

"Shut up!" Melany shouted. "You started smoking, you're drunk most of the time, you're being a dick to Tomo! I bet you don't remember that one of the times you called me drunk, you had a slut sucking you!" Shannon didn't answer, Melany could only hear his breathing from the other side of the line. "Shann? I'm sorry. Say something," she asked softly.

"Mel," he said hoarsely, and in the same tone, "you're killing me."

She felt her whole body shudder and closed her eyes, wishing she could hug him at that moment. "This conversation is not going anywhere, Shannon. Don't call me anymore until you get back, okay? It will be better for both of us."

As soon as she hung up, Melany texted Emma, telling her what had happened and asking her to keep an eye on Shannon.


	12. Responsibility

When they reached the airport, Jared texted Melany, letting her know that in an hour they would be home, but still had some things to resolve. She replied that she was in a meeting with her publisher until after lunch, but would go to the house as soon as she could.

"Don't tell Shannon I'm coming!" He read the last sentence and frowned, hoping it meant something good. He had been very worried about his brother in the recent months, it has been a while since he didn't act the way he was acting, but the few times Jared tried to help, Shannon pushed him away. After a few weeks, he decided to keep his distance and only speak of Melany when it was the other who started, which ended up working very well for their relationship. In the past couple of days, spent in Germany, Jared noticed that Shannon was more reserved than usual and also sadder. He ventured to ask if everything was okay and received a weak smile in response.

"I want to go back, brother. I think I screwed up." Jared hugged him and asked him to stay calm, but didn't dare say anything else. Melany was as difficult of a person to deal with as he was, and more unpredictable; the only thing that he should, if anything went wrong between the two, was to be the best brother and friend he could be for both of them. He picked up his suitcase along with Emma and went to find the others outside, determined to do his best to distract Shannon.

"Jared, I forgot to tell you," Shannon started when they entered the car with Emma. "I met a girl on the plane, on my way to London..." He stopped talking when he realized that the other two were staring. "It's not like that," he said, lowering his voice.

"What about this girl?" Jared asked, tilting his head.

"She's really cool, I think she is an assistant for some famous actor, you might even know her."

"Where are you going with this?"

"She lives here in LA, we've been talking, and I thought I'd call her to see our rehearsel. Is that okay for you?"

Emma looked apprehensively at Jared, who licked his lips and straightened his hair before answering. "See if she can go now, but it will be a quick thing."

They got out of the car and met Tomo and Vicki, already waiting in front of the gate, leaning against the wall. They took a few minutes to rest and went straight to the studio where Jared pulled Emma aside and asked her to welcome the girl when she arrived and try to learn more about who she was.

"But do you know if Mel is coming to see Shannon?" She asked in conspiracy.

"No, I couldn't talk to her. But, anyway, it wouldn't be a pleasant situation, even if she comes only for us. Watch that Camila girl while I keep trying to talk to Mel, ok? I'll try to make something up."

Less than an hour later, Camila was with them in the studio, and Jared took advantage of Tomo's excitement to continue texting Melany whenever he could. The girl seemed to be nice, but he was more interested on the way Shannon behaved beside her, more light and natural, without trying to impress her. This was already a great relief. When finalizing the last arrangements he wanted to get, they ate a snack around the pool and then said goodbye to Tomo and Vicki and gathered in the living room, in the front part of the house. Emma threw some inquisitive glances at Jared, but he just shook his head slightly in a negative and try to participate more in the conversation. He was talking about the production of Artifact, when he heard the door slam and someone running across the room behind his back. He turned in time to see Melany disappear in the hallway and Shannon go after her.

"Jared?" Emma asked, ready to get up.

He nodded. "But only intervene if necessary," he spoke softly and turned his attention to the woman sitting across from him. "Well, miss Stipsky, you may like listening more than speaking, but I am going to break you."

* * *

"Don't touch me!" Melany screamed and pulled away from Shannon when he reached her by the side of the glass door leading to the pool.

"Wait, let me explain..." He also screamed.

"No. Don't! I don't care, don't want to look at you."

"Then why did you came here, rather than just turn around and leave?"

"Because I want to talk to your fucking brother, damn it! But if you want me to leave..." She opened the door and left, making Shannon follow her again.

"Come back here!" He pulled her arm tightly and pinned her to the wall, feeling her heart beat as fast as his, both breathing hard. Melany put her hands on his chest and started pushing and hitting, cursing all the time. "Why did you come?" He asked in a lower voice.

"You asshole! I came to surprise you. But forget about it, I should have known it was all too good to last." She broke free and walked to the back garden.

"Melany!" Shannon went after her, annoyed.

"Stop!" She screamed again, turning to him. "This was too much, Shannon! One thing was to fuck everyone and parade them on the street so I would know what you were doing..."

"And didn't you do exactly the same thing?"

"I DIDN'T BRING ANYONE HERE!" They stared at each other in silence, until Emma came over and put an arm over Melany's shoulder.

"Mel, come on, let's get out of here." She let herself go, and when they passed by Shannon, Emma turned her head toward him. "Are you okay?" She spoke without making any sound. Shannon shrugged and wiped his eyes, sitting on the steps that separated the two parts of the yard.

* * *

Jared entered the room and smiled when he saw her lying on his bed, all curled up. He sat down beside her, and, without saying anything, Melany laid her head on his lap, her eyes red and face swollen.

"I thought he was different," she cried softly.

"But he is, dear." He passed his hands through her hair. "You have no idea how much he has changed for you in these last few months."

"Changed for the worse. You were right, I brought out the worst side of him."

"No, Mel, on the contrary. I can assure you that he is suffering now as much as you are."

"Wow," she snuggled into his lap. "He told me the same thing about you when we were fighting." Jared smiled.

"I was afraid of you falling in love, because I thought it wouldn't be reciprocal. I thought one or the other, deep down, wouldn't take it seriously."

She shrugged, "Isn't it what he did?"

"No, Mel!" He laughed "I've talked a lot with both of you about this and I have the impression of always talking to the same person. You need to learn how to communicate better, that's all."

"Tell that to him! He was the one who grabbed me and said he was in love with me and, two months later, showed up cuddling someone else!"

"And you are the one who wrote that you love him in your book and can't say it to his face until now."

"I hate you," she sighed.

Jared pulled her shoulder, making her turn to him and stroked her face. "You look so much like me it's scary, you know?" She smiled and kissed his hand, turning belly up. "But really, Mel," he continued, "Camila is pretty cool."

"Who is Camila?" She asked, but at the same time she understood and squeezed hard the hand that she was still holding. "You fucker, you're on his side?"

"Ouch!" He pulled his hand back. "Pay attention! He met Camila on the plane, going to London, and they began to talk, that's it, without second intentions. She is friends with Robert Downey Jr., you would get along with her just fine."

Melany got up irritated. "I don't care, she can be friends with the Pope, I don't want to hear about her."

"Shannon told her to read your books, Melany!" Jared raised his voice slightly, pulling her back to bed.

"Did he?"

He nodded, holding back a laugh. "And she told me personally that she liked them very much."

"That doesn't help me at all, Jay." She sat down next to him and pouted, playing with a loose thread on the comforter.

* * *

He knocked and entered without waiting, knowing that Melany would be there. She and Jared were sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing each other, and they both lifted their heads when he entered. An absolute silence fell over the room, Jared looked from one to the other, waiting for a reaction, but they kept staring as if there was nothing else around them. Shannon was the first to speak. "Can we talk?" He asked with a serious expression.

Melany nodded and stood up, waving goodbye to Jared and following Shannon to his room. "I missed that bed," she said, pointing to the white sheets with a sad smile. "I missed you... Everything." She put her hands on her pockets and stared at her feet.

"Me too." He walked towards her and put a strand of hair behind her ear, keeping his hand on her face. Melany raised her head and they kept staring at each other, noticing both pairs of eyes swollen and red. Then, at the same time, they hugged each other tight, as if time had stopped and they were still living in those first weeks. Instinctively, Shannon placed a hand on her neck and turned her head to him, focusing on her small and parted lips. Melany circled his with her fingertips and kissed him softly, burying her face in his neck after that.

"I'm still really mad at you," she broke away from him, who licked his lips and nodded.

"I just wanted you to admit what you feel for me, Melany, no more bullshit."

"I'm not ready for that yet."

He sighed and dropped his hands on his sides. "And when will you be? What do I need to do to show you that you are safe with me, that you can trust me?"

"Sha..."

"I don't want to keep playing doll with you, Melany." He pointed his finger at her and, despite his lower tone, he made her cringe a little. "You let me fall for you, now take responsibility for it, before we get even more hurt and other people get involved."

Melany closed her eyes and swallowed hard, trying to hold a steady face. She gasped and put her hands on her hips. "I won't come here anymore, don't worry."

He pulled her closer and hugged her again. "It's so hard to have you here... And don't have you at all," he whispered in her ear. She wiped her eyes and pressed her lips on his for a few seconds.

"I know," she replied quietly as she pulled away.

"Mel?" He called when she was already opening the door. "Don't take too long, please."

She left the room with a sad smile and went looking for Jared to say goodbye.


	13. Halloween

She ordered another beer and winked at the bartender when he answered. "Another one alone, Mel?" The boy asked, serving three shots of tequila for the girls beside her.

"For now, yes, Fred. But the night is young." She raised the bottle towards him and took a sip, turning to face the dancing floor.

"Don't disappear, huh?" He shouted as she walked away. "I'll call a taxi for you if you're unable." She raised one arm while walking away and he smiled, shaking his head.

As she promised Shannon, she hadn't returned to their house the day after they came back from the tour, three weeks ago. Jared and Emma would visit her more often in the apartment, taking Constance along from time to time. Melany wasn't okay, but she was getting by and able to avoid getting drunk when he was on the street. The problem was to distract herself when she was alone, so she started to go to the bar where Shannon had taken her months before, always knowing she was likely to meet him there. Such a possibility caused her stomach to stir in anxiety every night, because while she feared this meeting, part of her wished it would occur. Emma was the only one who knew where she was going, if Jared knew he would spend hours ranting about how it only proved how much she missed his brother. She knew he would say it because it was true, and something she wasn't ready to admit.

"Stop being so proud and go after him!" Fred, the bartender who had befriended her said one evening. But it was not pride that held her back, it was the fear of losing Shannon as soon as she admitted what she felt for him. Melany always lost people she loved, it seemed natural and logical that she would lose Shannon too if she faced that relationship.

The bar was already emptier when Fred leaned against the inner side of the counter and examined the place, looking for Melany. She was twelve years older than him, but he thought they could be the same age, with her appearance and the way she behaved, drinking and dancing as if she was still in her early twenties. It wasn't hard to find her, dancing alone in the middle of several small groups of friends and couples. Over the past weeks, Fred watched with a growing admiration several guys approaching her and being dispensed, one after another. She wasn't there to be with anyone, she really just wanted to get distracted and take the risk of meeting Shannon. Fred knew very well who he was and, until recently, he used to watch him going out of there with several girls.

Fred was just thinking how nice it would be if Melany never met Shannon when some girls who were left at the bar turned their heads to one side and began to talk and laugh louder, getting his attention. He looked where they pointed and saw that Shannon had just arrived with a very flashy blonde and completely stoned.

"This will not end well," he muttered to himself, scratching his beard. "Tony," he hit the shoulder of the other bartender who shared the shift with him, "cover for me, I have to do something urgent." He ran from behind the counter without waiting for a response and threw himself in the middle of the dancing floor, looking for Melany.

"Fred!" She cried when he found her. "They let you enjoy a little bit, was it?" He smiled awkwardly, not knowing what to say to get her out of there. But even if he had something planned, it wouldn't matter, because her eyes were already fixed somewhere behind his shoulder. "I don't believe it," she whispered and her smile died while her shoulders fell.

"Let's go outside, Mel, I think you'd better go," he tried to push her away, but she wouldn't move. He peered over his shoulder and saw Shannon leaning against a pillar less than five feet away from them, his hands all over the other woman. He put an arm over Melany's shoulder and she let him carry her away, walking slowly. They were almost reaching the fire exit, which gave access to side street, when Fred felt Melany being pulled back hard. "What...?"

"What are you doing here?" Shannon grabbed her arms tight and a mixture of anger and regret showed in his eyes. "Huh? Answer me!"

Melany tried to get away and started saying that he was hurting her. Nervous, Fred realized that some people were beginning to look at them, so he gripped one of his shoulders. "Dude, let her go," he shouted.

"And who are you?" Shannon released her and turned to him staggering, his face red, veins starting to jump on his neck. "Who do you think you are to defend her?" Melany, shaking and holding her phone to her ear, stepped in between them.

"I think you better go back to that bitch and leave him alone." She spoke in a firm tone of voice, placing a hand on his chest and then turning her attention to the phone. "Hello, Jared?"

"Oh, of course she called Jared!" He yelled bringing his hands to his head while two security guards approached them.

"Don't hurt him," Melany asked, covering the phone mic and going out into the street. Before following her, Fred went to talk to Shannon.

"Dude, look at you. Go home. Later..." He stopped talking when his fist hit him, and the blood started pouring hot from his broken nose, soaking his shirt. He got up from the floor as Shannon was pointing his finger at him breathlessly.

"Take a good look at me, kid. If you keep playing her game, that's exactly how you're going to end up." He turned around and walked toward the other exit, ignoring the woman he had come with when she tried to hold him. Fred told the security guards to ensure that he left, but not to hurt him unless they really needed to. He went into the bathroom and took a deep breath before putting his nose back in it's place, as he had seen his friends doing before. He washed away the blood, grabbed a handful of ice at the bar, wrapping it in a cloth and ran to the emergency exit, hoping Melany was still out there.

"Oh my god, what did he do?" She ran to him and held his face, turning it into the beam of light from the pole near where they were.

"It was nothing, it happened to me before." He pushed her hands away and smiled worried. "You have a friend who you can call to sleep with you tonight? I don't think he will come after ou, but I would feel better if I knew you're not alone."

"I called Jared, he's coming to get me. It wouldn't be a good idea for them to sleep under the same roof tonight either."

Fred nodded and put the ice on his nose. "You're not coming back, are you?" Melany smiled.

"I don't think so, Fred." She put her hand on his arm. "But thank you for being my friend during this time. And I'm sorry about what happened today."

He shrugged. "That's what friends are for," he said with a serious expression, making her laugh. A few minutes later, Jared pulled over next to them and leaned over the passenger seat to open the door. Fred hugged Melany before she could go in, "I hope you can fix this, Mel. You deserve to be happy."

Melany smiled, kissed his cheek and got into the car, finally collapsing when Jared squeezed her hand tight.

* * *

Constance leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed and a worried expression on her face. For two days now Shannon wasn't speaking to anyone or leaving his room for anything except to grab some coffee and toasts in the kitchen. Emma had called her nervous, explaining what had happened and asking for help, since Jared decided to give more attention to Melany than to his brother at that time. It was better, she thought, rubbing her forehead. The boys loved each other unconditionally, and there was nothing more satisfying to her, but Jared had a very strong personality, and if they weren't on the same page, it was better to stay separate for a while.

She took a deep breath and opened the door, approaching the bed, where he was huddled. "Shann, sooner or later you'll have to talk to someone." She sat down beside him and stroked his hair, without getting any response. "Can I stay here?" She insisted.

He finally nodded and shifted on the bed, making room for his mother to lay down beside him. "She turned my life upside down," he said. "I don't recognize myself anymore."

"You did the same to her, son. The Melany I met and the Melany and I saw here in your room are two totally different persons."

"Do you know if she's okay?" Shannon sighed and rolled his eyes. "Shit, she saw me with another woman again, now I blew it."

"She's fine," Constance shrugged. "Sad, of course, but fine."

"Jared is taking care of her, right?" She bit her lip without answering. "I know he is, mom," he gave a weak smile, "it would be weird if he wasn't."

"Don't make her feel like she has to choose between you, Shannon." She held his hand. "I think that much of her insecurity comes from this awkwardness between you and your brother. And the truth is that you will never take his place in her heart, just as she will never want Jared as much as he wanted her."

"What do you mean?" Shannon frowned. "Jared told me that it was never serious between them, that it was just sex."

Constance closed her eyes and smiled. "I think I said more than I should."

"Say what you were going to say, mom, please!" He insisted anxious.

"They really didn't take it seriously, but your brother was in love with her and he only realized this after they broke up. When they met again, he thought it was his chance to win her over, but soon it became clear that she didn't feel the same way. So he decided it was better to stay beside her as her best friend than to move away and stay away from her forever."

"You see how he complicates things? How can I truste him if he lied to me about that?" Shannon muttered.

"Nobody knows about this, Shann, not even Emma.. And he would kill me if he knew I told you!"

He closed his eyes. "I won't tell, mom."

"The question is what Melany feels, and I guarantee you that she wants to be with you. But as long as she thinks that she is between you and your brother, she won't give in."

"But what should I do?"

"Well, darling, show her that Jared is not a problem."

Shannon sighed and smiled to his mother, wondering if she had any idea of how difficult it would be for him to do that.

* * *

On Halloween, Melany was alone in her apartment, listening to music at full volume and drinking tequila. She had been invited to a few parties, but didn't feel like going out and dealing with people, mainly because she knew that she was going to be looking over her shoulder all the time, afraid that Shannon might appear from somewhere and spoil her night. She was surprised when the doorbell rang and went to look through the peephole.

"Jared!" She opened the door wearing only panties and a tight shirt, holding a bottle of tequila and a cigarette in the same hand. He stared at her a little awkwardly as she made room for him to enter, putting out the cigarette in the ashtray on the table. "Sorry I was smoking, I didnt know you were coming. Did we have something planned?"

"No," he walked in and kissed the top of her head, "but I figured you wouldn't want to spend Halloween alone, so I brought some movies." He showed her the bag he carried with some DVDs. "Jesus, this music is too loud!" He turned off the radio and took the bottle from her hand. "Are you okay?"

Melany smiled, biting her lower lip and throwing her arms around his waist. "Better now. Did you bring Stephen King?"

"Of course I brought Stephen King. Go ahead and pick a movie, I'll make some popcorn."

"Left side of the cabinet," she said taking the bag. "That disgusting vegan thing you like is on the right." He smiled as he remembered how much she hated that popcorn. "Can we watch The Shining?" Melany screamed louder than necessary.

"Yeah, sure. Hey, come here." She stumbled to the kitchen door, making him laugh. "On a scale from zero to ten, how drunk are you?"

Shee grimaced as she was thinking. "Eight. Maybe eight and a half," she put her hands on the wall, swaying. "I can talk!"

Jared laughed and pulled out a chocolate bar from his pocket, tapping her nose. "Eat this."

They laid on the mattress with two bowls of popcorn and two glasses of soda in front of them. Melany loved to make him drink Coca Cola. "If you drink a full glass, I'll make you pancakes for breakfast!" She always bargained, and he always agreed, rolling his eyes.

They had already seen The Shining together countless times over the years, and every time was the same. Melany cowered in his chest in the same times, they were scared in the same scenes, she closed her eyes always on the same point, saying she no longer wanted to watch. At the end of the film, one of them began repeating "redrum, redrum, redrum" followed by the other and they ended up laughing.

When they took the bowls and cups to the kitchen and went to the bedroom, Melany was serious, and Jared got on the bed, pulling her toward him. "It'll be okay, Mel," he whispered kissing her cheeks, making her shiver.

"We've done some crazy shit together, haven't we?" She said, running a hand through his beard.

"What do you mean?"

"The places where we had sex..." She smiled. "Did you ever thought we would get this far?"

Jared sighed, feeling something move on his stomach. "I don't understand where you're going with this."

Melany leaned on her arms and stood over him, placing one leg on each side of his body. She leaned forward and kissed him slowly, feeling a movement between her legs. She lead one hand down there and squeezed it a bit, making him get harder, holding his neck with the other hand. "Don't you miss that?" She whispered in between their kiss, making him moan softly and tighten his grip on her waist, taking off the shirt she wore with no bra.

"No, Mel, stop," he asked hoarsely, holding her fists and laying her back to his side. He took a deep breath, trying to control himself. "I miss you like hell, you know I do, but this is wrong" he grabbed her chin, "you're in love with my brother." He pressed his lips gently on her mouth and smiled, holding her face. "I'm not Shannon."

"I am very in love with your brother, Jay," she whispered scared, nodding.

Jared pulled a blanket over her body and brushed a strand of hair from her face. "You need to tell him that." He kissed her again, lightly nibbling her lower lip with his teeth, as he knew she liked. Melany smiled at him and sighed, falling asleep soon after that.

As he couldn't sleep, Jared went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, more to cool down his nerves than anything else. He looked in a corner of the closet where he left some clothes, put his underwear and a pair of sweatpants and lay down beside her, sleeping as fast as she had.

* * *

He found himself in front of her door, breathless and barely able to stand. Shannon tried to remember how he got there, but the last few hours were a blur in his memory. He needed to talk to her, see her, hug her and kiss her again, he was sorry for asking her to leave his house. As he put his hands on the wall he saw his knuckles all dirty with blood. He rubbed them on his pants and realized it wasn't his. Probably he had been fighting again and this time he didn't seem to remember what had happened. He stopped his hand a few inches from the door, not wanting her to see him like that. It was better to leave. Annoyed, he took his phone from his pocket and called his brother. _"Hey, Jared, how's it going? I haven't spoke to you in a few weeks, I know, but would you pick me up at Melany's? Because I don't remember shit and I just regained consciousness in front of her door. So, little brother, if you think you can get close to her without stealing her from me, could you do me a fucking favor and come pick me up before I pass out here and she finds me in the morning?"_

He imagined saying all that with a stupid smile on his face, feeling like a perfect asshole while listening to te tone. Shortly before the connection dropped, he thought he heard the ringing of his brother's phone mixed with the sound coming from his iPhone. He shook his head and dialed again, paying more attention. When realized that the sound was coming from inside the apartment he felt his blood boil with rage.

He reached behind the fire extinguisher that was next to the door, where she had told him once that she left a spare key for an emergency. He felt a bit with his fingers until they touched the jagged metal, and entered the apartment, trying to be as quiet as possible. Jared's phone was in the living-room, next to a plastic bag with some DVDs. His heart began to beat faster as he walked down the hall and into her room on tiptoes. He flicked the switch and felt his chest fill with anger at what he saw.

Jared was the first to wake up, instinctively putting himself in front of Melany when he saw a figure standing at the foot of the bed. He realized that it was Shannon while she awoke and sat up rubbing her eyes, forgetting that she was naked. And then everything happened very fast. Shannon threw himself at his brother with a blind hatred, falling on the bed when Jared turned away, pulling Melany along with him.

"Stay here, don't move!" He told her as she cowered in the corner of the wall, frightened and confused. Shannon was screaming in anger and laughing at the same time while standing up and turning to Jared with his eyes shining. "Shannon, what happened to you?" Jared pointed at the bloody knuckles and shredded face, which he hadn't noticed before.

Without bothering to answer, the older one fell on his brother again, this time being grabbed by Jared, who threw him on the wall and forced his forearm against his chest. "Dude, wake up! What's wrong with you?" Shannon tried to push Jared away from him, receiving a straight punch in his face and hitting the ground. He was trying to get up when Melany, already dressed, stepped in and pushed Jared back.

"Stop, for god's sake!" She screamed, looking at Shannon over her shoulder. He lifted his back on his elbows, and she led her hand to her hair, desperate. "Please stop!" Jared left the room without saying anything, and Shannon, just as silent, stood up and tried to lean on the wall. Melany approached him and put him sitting on the bed, grabbing his face carefully and assessing the damage. "I'll get some ice and bandages, okay? Don't go anywhere." He nodded, and she went into the kitchen. "Are you hurt?" She asked Jared, who leaned with his back to the sink.

"No, nothing serious."

"Then leave, you can talk to him later." She opened the freezer and got some ice, dropping it on a dishtowel.

"Melany..."

"Jared, please." She pleaded. "I know you were defending yourself, but staying here won't help. I'll take care of him and drive him to your place later."

"Are you sure?" He asked serious.

"Yeah, just go. I'll call you if anything happens." She twisted the towel around the ice and was back to the room, listening to Jared slam the door behind him.

Shannon looked up to her when she returned. "Mel, I ..."

"Shhh," she put her index finger gently over his mouth and handed him the bag. "Put this on your eye." When she turned to go to the bathroom get the first aid kit, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. Melany laced her fingers with his and let him take her to his lap, feeling her vision blur and her throat burn.

"I hate to see you crying," he took the ice from his face and leaned his forehead against hers, burying his hands in her messy hair to hold her close to him.

"Oh, Shannon," she sobbed, holding his face with both hands, "I love you."

He pulled back to look at her, widening the eye that wasn't swollen. "What?" His voice was nothing more than a weak sound.

Melany laughed and put a hand over her mouth. "I love you," she repeated. "I love you!" She held his face gently and kissed him with ease, as he grabbed and squeezed her, saying he loved her too.


	14. Robert

Shannon slept peacefully when she kissed his forehead and went to the kitchen to make some coffee. She leaned over the living-room window holding the mug and called Emma.

"Hi, Mel. How are you?" She sounded busy.

"Em, have you seen Jared today?" Melany tried not to sound so serious.

"I'm almost at the house. What happened?"

"He came here last night, we watched a movie and went to bed. Shannon got here a little after that, totally stoned." She spoke slowly, rubbing her finger on the mug.

"Oh, God..." Emma muttered.

"Yeah... He saw us in bed and went crazy, he tried to hit Jared."

"He did what?!" Emma shouted. "Mel, did you have sex with Jared?"

"No, Emma!" She fell silent for a moment, listening to Emma stop the car on the other side of the line. "We kissed, but that was it, no biggie." She thought it best not to mention that he had slept only in panties.

"This whole mess is getting worse." Emma sighed.

"Relax! Are you there yet?"

"Yeah, I'm still inside the car. Jared seems to be home."

"Great," Melany sighed with relief. "Look, Shannon is here with me. Jared wasn't hurt, so I asked him to leave and I took care of Shann."

"How is he?"

"A black eye and a couple of scratches, nothing serious."

"Have you at least settled things with each other?"

Melany smiled. "I told him I love him." She tried to speak as quietly as she could so she wouldn't wake him up.

"Ah!" Emma laughed. "Finally, Mel! I can't wait to make fun of you."

"Go easy on us! Jared..."

"Will be in a foul mood today," Emma joked. "But let me worry about him. But what were you two thinking, huh? You and Jared." Melany was silent. "Shannon is completely in love with you, you know. I mean, I know it must not be easy to resist Jared all the time, with all the history between you two, but you have the chance to start from scratch with someone amazing on your side."

"I know," she whispered.

"Look, I love you and Jared, but if you hurt Shann... I'm not sure I'll be on your side."

"No, Emma, stop it," Melany shook her head. "That's not going to happen."

"I hope not. Look, I have to go check on the boss. I'll update you later, ok?"

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me, perv." Emma stopped and giggled. "You go take care of Shannon, I bet you're dying to do that."

Melany hung up the phone laughing, left the empty mug on the sink and lay back down next to Shannon. His left eye was still pretty swollen, but on his right side she could see his calm expression as he slept, his chest rising and falling slowly. She entered under the covers and snuggled next to him, burying her face in the curve between his neck and shoulder. Shannon wrapped an arm around her, kissing the corner of her eye, which was what he could reach. His beard scratched her face lightly, and Melany gave a feeble laugh, shaking her shoulders a little. With a throaty growl and holding her body tight, he bent to brush his beard on her unprotected neck, making her skin shiver instantly. Melany laughed loudly and held his face with both hands, pulling away slightly to look into his eyes.

Still sleepy, Shannon slowly opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her. "Was it all true then? I didn't dream of you saying that you love me?"

She shook her head and ran her fingers gently through the left side of his face. "I'm sorry that you got hurt."

"Hey, it was worth it. I got the girl in the end, didn't I?"

"You did," she whispered and moved closer, kissing him slowly.

"Hmm, and you taste like coffee." Shannon pressed against her and closed his eyes. "I need two more days of sleep. By your side. Is that okay?" He grumbled, already falling asleep again.

Melany laughed and nodded, hugging and curling her legs on his.

* * *

The door opened, and he turned to see her entering the studio balancing two large Starbucks cups and her laptop. He smiled when she tried to hold the computer with her chin, squirming to put the paper cups on the table beside him.

"You didn't say you were coming," he pulled her onto his lap. "I would have planned something special." Melany buried one hand in his hair and kissed him calmly.

"I don't need a special schedual to want to stay with you," she whispered with her mouth still glued to his.

Shannou smiled and squeezed her leg while biting her lip, making her moan. "If you don't give me a good reason, I'll take you upstairs now, and we'll spend the whole day inside the room."

"Will we?" She teased, running her fingers through his neck.

"Do you have any doubts?" Shannon shoved his hands underneath the sweatshirt she was wearing and started playing with her breasts, feeling her heart quicken.

"Shann..." Melany shifted on his lap and kissed him hard, feeling his erection through their pants.

He pulled her hair back and kissed her neck, smiling pleased to see her skin shiver. "I want you now," she whispered against her chest.

"Let's go upstairs." She asked, and they left the studio.

By midafternoon, Melany came down to the kitchen thinking of drinking a glass of water and ran into Jared digging in the fridge.

"You should put some pants on, dear, this isn't your house." He kissed the top of her head and went into the living room.

Melany, trying to pull her shirt down as she could hide her bare legs, followed her friend and sat beside him on the couch. "Are we good?"Jared stared at her for a moment, seeming to think and measure everything that came to his mind, choosing the best answer. Finally, he gave a weak smile and squeezed her hand.

"You're both family to me and you're happy, that's all that matters to me."

"I'm sorry, Jared. For that Halloween night, for all that mess."

"Hey, hey, no need to apologize. If none of that had happened, you probably wouldn't be together now."

"Maybe." She smiled and hugged him.

"I found two huge cups of coffee untouched in the studio, along with your laptop." Melany felt her skin burn, and Jared laughed. "I threw out the coffee and your laptop is still there," he stood up, "but be more careful next time." He ruffled her hair and left, leaving her alone on the couch. A few minutes later, Melany fetched the computer and returned to the bedroom, where Shannon was napping.

* * *

The meeting to define the details of the release of her book ended later than expected, and Melany left the building with a growling stomach. It was the eve of Thanksgiving, and Shannon had commented that morning something about them spending the night alone together, because they would have a family dinner the next day. She looked at the clock, it was almost 5pm. She decided to stop at the store on the way home to buy some munchies for their movie night.

She was leaving the candy isle walking distracted holding a little basket full of chocolate and other sweets on one hand and her phone in the other, trying to type a text message to Shannon when she bumped into someone coming the other way.

"Oops, sorry!" Melany lifted her face to look at the person and widened her eyes paralyzed.

He smiled at her and frowned at the basket full of candy she held. "It would be funnier if you were wearing a red cape!" He laughed. "You gonna eat it all by yourself?"

"Huh?" She looked down at where he was pointing and understood. "Ah, is not just for me," she felt her face burn hot, "I'm gonna have a movie night with my boyfriend tonight and..."

"Hmm," he wrinkled his nose and shook his hand smiling, "then you won't even mind all the candy."

Melany laughed. "Dude, I'm sorry, but I'm crazy about you."

"I think your boyfriend wouldn't want to hear you talking like that," he winked. "But that's not fair, I don't know you. Let's do this right." He reached his hand and cleared his throat. "A pleasure to meet you, my name is Robert Downey Jr., I'm an actor."

"My name is Melany Bums, I'm a writer. And the pleasure is all mine, believe me!" She shook his hand.

"Melany Bums, really?!" His eyes widened. "I love your books!"

"Oh, shut it!"

"I'm serious! Is there a new one coming out now?"

"Yes, actually, in January." Melany could not stop smiling. "Wow, I can't believe you've read my books! I'm shaking I'm so nervous." She shook her hands laughing.

"Oh, c'mon. Tell you what, Jared Leto is your boyfriend, right?" She frowned and Robert shrugged at her reaction, "I watch TMZ a lot!"

She burst out laughing. "I'm dating his brother, Shannon."

He slapped his hands together. "Alright, we can work with that. I'm having a New Year's party in New York, nothing too fancy, but nothing too simple either. You know how it goes, guest list, a private thing. Talk to them, you three are officially invited!"

"Seriously?"

"I never joke when it comes to party, you know," he winked at her again. "Anyway, I will put your mother in law on the list too, she was stunning at the Oscars..."

"Constance! She'll love it, Robert!" Melany jumped excited.

"Anyone else you want me to put on the list?" He asked smiling.

"Actually, yes. Jared's assistant, Emma. But could you list her as a real guest, not only his assistant?"

"Done!"

"Oh my God, I'm going to a Tony Stark party!" Melany covered her mouth with her hand. He laughed and hugged her, escorting her to the cashier and then into the parking lot. "Robert, it was a huge pleasure to meet you," she hugged him beside the car. "I don't know how to thank you for inviting us to your party."

"I do. Keep writing!" He have her another wink. She laughed and sat behind the wheel, closing the door. "Next week I will send the formal invitation to you. Don't eat all that candy at once, huh, Riding Hood?"

"Riding Hood?"

He shrugged and shook his head. "I have a friend who gives nicknames to everyone, I think I'm spending a lot of time with her!" He threw a kiss in the air and put his hands in his pockets, watching her drive away.

* * *

Jared went out to the garden and found his brother sitting by the pool with a book on his hands and headphones on his ears. "I thought Melany was here," he commented crouching beside him.

Shannon pulled the headphones off and rubbed his face. "She had a meeting, something about the book's release, advertising and stuff. She should be here soon."

"That's good, she likes to keep busy."

"Look, Jared, the other night at her house..." He changed the subject abruptly.

"We don't need to talk about it, man." He put his hand on his brother's shoulder and smiled. "Really, it's over, you're together, everyone is fine. That's what matters. And your eye is back to normal," he winked and laughed.

"Yeah, I guess so." Shannon thought about what his mother had told him, about Jared's feelings toward Melany, but he shook his head and laughed along with him.

A few minutes later, Melany ran through the glass door and jumped beside them. "You'll never guess what just happened!" She yelled and kissed Shannon.

"What?"

"I met Iron Man!" She waved her hands frantically, making Jared burst into laughter.

"What do you mean?" Shannon smiled, pulling her arm.

"I ran into Robert Downey Jr. at the groceries store!" She sat on the floor beside his chair and rested her head on his leg. "Shann, he likes my books!"

"Robert is a very nice guy," Jared said.

"He is amazing!" She agreed. "But you don't know the best part, he invited us to his New Year's party in NY."

"You just met and he invited you, just like that?" Shannon said serious.

"He didn't invite me, Shann. We're all invited," she circled her hand to indicate all three of them. "And your mother and Emma too!"

"Really?" Jared smiled.

"Yes!" Melany turned to him. "The official invitations should arrive next week. We are going, eh?"

Jared shrugged, indicating his brother. "I'm not the one you should be asking."

"Shann?" She looked up at him and curled her lips. "Please?"

He ran his hand across her face and smiled. "We're going, but you won't get away from me. I don't want to see Stark boy all over you," he joked.

Melany laughed and stood up, turning around the chair where he was and leaning to hug him from behind. "Thank you, baby." She gave him a long kiss on his cheek.

Jared clapped his hands on his knees and stood up. "Well, kids, have fun. Mom should come here early tomorrow morning, she'll love the news." He smiled at them and went into the house.

"Did you talked to him?" Melany pulled Shannon up and put her arms over his chest, cradling her head there.

He nodded and sighed, holding her shoulders. "I think he's okay. How was the meeting?"

"Great! I think I can make a mini launch tour."

"Oh, sweetie, that's awesome!" He pulled her chin and gently kissed her, making her feel a little dizzy.

"I'll never get used to your kisses," she said softly. "You always leave me breathless."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yeah." She bit her lower lip and slightly pulled his hair back. "Let's go upstairs? I bought a ton of candy, and..."

He lowered his hands to her hips and smirked. "You're giving me ideas," he bit her neck and grabbed her tight. "Let's go."

* * *

The next day, they woke up late and were rolling on the bed, curled up in the covers. It wasn't so cold yet, not as it should be in NY at least, but it was enough to make Melany wish she could spend all day under the duvet, trapped in his arms. She ran her fingers lightly over the freckles on his shoulder, as he played with her hair.

"Your mom is probably here already." She lifted her face and kissed him slowly, scratching his beard in a way she knew he liked.

"Do you want to get up?"

"No," she hold him tighter, "never!"

Shannon laughed and stroked her cheek. "May I go make coffee?"

"Hmm..." She pretended to think about it. "You may," she gave him a kiss, "but don't take too long!"

Ten minutes later he was back with two mugs, and Melany sat on the bed, with a packet of Reese's on her lap and scrowlling the screen on her phone. Shannon reached down to give her coffee and a kiss and straightened up with a grimace, stopping beside the bed. She swallowed the rest of the chocolate and put her phone aside looking worried. "What is it?" She asked as he took another sip of coffee and landed the mug on the dresser.

"My back hurts a little," he complained frowning.

Melany drank some of her coffee and placed it next to his, then spread her legs and reached for him. "Come here." Shannon crawled to where she wanted, his back to her and holding her legs to each side of his body. Slowly, she put her hands under the clothes he wore and kissed his neck, smiling when she saw him shiver. She took her hands to his shoulders, helping him to remove his shirt and started kissing every inch of his back gently. "Where does it hurt?" He put his arms over his head and tried to touch the right spot between his shoulders, complaining when he felt a twinge. "Wow, Shann, is super stiff here," Melany said massaging the place.

Shannon sighed and let his head fall back. "It feels better when you do this." He was laying back slowly, forcing her to lean against the pillows. With his head resting on her belly, he pulled her arms forward and clasped her hands over his chest, grabbing and stroking her thighs on his sides. "Your birthday is coming up," he said in a careless tone. Melany nodded and he continued, "do you usually celebrate with Jared? I don't remember seeing you on his birthdays."

"Oddly enough, we never spent our birthdays together. But he always joked that one day we would throw a hell of a party that would start on the 26th and end on the 27th, and in the end we would be the only ones left alive."

"Sounds like him." Shannon turned his body to face her and kissed her belly. "What do you want for your birthday?"

She widened her eyes. "I have to idea! Enough with the preassure!"

"Ask me anything."

"But I don't know!" She laughed. "Really, the only thing I want is to spend a wonderful day by your side, other than that, feel free to surprise me however you want to."

"However I want to? Really?" He shifted on the bed and pulled her head to his shoulder. "I'll give you the best birthday of your life."

She smiled and kissed him, catching him by surprise. "I don't doubt that." She began to play with his hand. "What are you thankful for today?"

"Is there any way I can say this without sounding like Bon Jovi?" Melany started laughing before he could finish. "I'm thankful for you, sweetie," Shannon kissed the corner of her mouth, "for you."


	15. New Year's

December flew by. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Shannon showed up in the apartment with a small bag, an early Christmas gift, containing a golden bikini and two tickets to Hawaii. So they took the whole month off and only returned to Los Angeles between Christmas and the New Year's Eve, in time for rest for a few days before going to New York for Robert's party. On the night of the 30th, they were sitting in the living room with Jared, goofing off and watching Nat Geo documentaries.

"It's not that I don't like LA," Melany snorted, "I just think it's all too bright. And hot."

"Hawaii is bright and hot, and you loved it!" Shannon shook her chin. Melany just raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Would you rather be in New York yet? Alone?"Jared asked, smiling, confident that it would end the discussion.

"I miss New York, you know? Despite all." Melany shrugged. "But now I have you, I don't care much about where I am." She wrapped her arms around Shannon's chest and smiled at him. After a few minutes in silence, she stretched her leg to the other couch and nudged Jared with her foot. "So, how do you feel about being 43 years old?"

"I think I'm getting tired, you know?" He turned to his brother, who nodded.

"I know what you mean."

"And you at 34?" Jared asked her back.

"I'm more tired than you should have been when you were my age."

"Which means you're a normal person," Shannon said.

"Hey, you can't talk much," she looked up at him. "You look like we have the same age, at most. I am the worst here!"

"Poor baby!" Jared threw a cushion on her, and they were laughing and teasing as if they were three teenagers. A few minutes later, Shannon looked at his watch and they decided to go to bed, since they would fly to NY first thing the next day.

* * *

"Sure you don't want to eat anything?" Shannon asked as he handed her the coffee cup and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, I'll have a bagel in New York later."

Jared was on their side and rolled his eyes, "when you will start eating right?" Melany shrugged and Emma gave him a slight nudge on the arm. "What?" He asked in a low tone, but loud enough for others to hear.

Emma smiled in an awkward way and spoke up "we need to decide on some dates in March, I want to solve this during the flight." Later, when Jared was sitting between her and his mother on the plane, Emma continued what she had meant to say. "Stop trying to get her attention, Jared. Mel is very happy with Shannon, it is the first time I see her like that since you introduced us. I know you have this habit of taking care of her, but now is time to let Shannon do this, don't you think?"

He looked at his brother and Melany sitting together a few seats ahead, holding each other and laughing at something. Emma was right, he couldn't remember when was the last time he had seen Melany so happy, but he wasn't trying to get her attention or anything. Taking care of her was a natural reaction, the result of a protective relationship that they developed over the years, without thinking too much about it. For a long time he had been all she had in the world, he felt responsible for her, a difficult feeling to forget. Melany laid her head on Shannon's shoulder, Jared and smiled at Emma and Constance, who looked at him waiting for an answer. "Yes, you are right."

* * *

Sitting cross-legged at the table nearest to the window, with her right elbow on the table and her chin resting absently on her palm, Melany lost track of time while watching life passing by in the street outside. She startled when Shannon put the coffee cups on the table. "Already? That was fast."

"It took a while, actually. This place is packed," he said sitting in front of her.

"Everywhere in NY is crowded," she smiled and looked back at the window.

"You really miss this place, don't you?"

Melany nodded and sipped her coffee in silence. A few minutes later, she looked at him and bit her lip, deciding what to say.

"What?" He smiled embarrassed.

"You've never told me about you."

"What do you mean? Of course I have."

"About your past." Shannon let his smile die as she continued. "I mean, I know what Jared told me about you and I know what you want me to know, but..."

He took a deep breath, "what you want to know?"

"What was your drug?" Melany asked bluntly and watched as he became more serious. Shannon didn't answer immediately, he stared at his hands, running his tongue over his lips and swallowing hard. "Shit, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked anything."

"No," he shook her hands across the table, "it's okay." He drank a bit of coffee and sighed, turning to smile at her. "Cocaine. Crack, when I came to visit Jared here." He bit his lower lip, "but I didn't really like the rock," he shrugged and fell silent. Melany nodded and looked back at the street covered in snow, feeling the weight of his gaze on her. "Heroin?" He asked quietly.

"How do you know?" She looked at him surprised.

Shannon shrugged, "sometimes when you're too anxious or nervous, you scratch your arm a little. It was just a guess."

"I do that?" He nodded and she giggled. "I've never noticed it. I used to think I had a problem with alcohol, but then I tried heroin a few times and..." Melany paused to take another sip of coffee and then sighed. "I wasn't hooked, Shannon. I never felt anything so good in my entire life." He raised his eyebrows. "It was so good that I was too scared, scared to death. I wanted to feel that way without injecting anything, you know? It was when I met Jared again, and shortly after my parents died. He realized what was happening, but did nothing, just stood there next to me and waited for me to ask for help. It wasn't long until I collapsed in front of him, scared the way I was." She stopped talking and he waited, running his thumb over her thin wrist. "He used to tell me a lot about you, you know? How you made it through on your own."

"Really?" Shannon smiled.

"Yeah. It was what helped me in the end. I thought that if you had done it yourself I should be able to do it too, you inspired me a lot."

"Oh, Mel, that's... wow. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "And I never thought of you as anything other than an example, until we started going out together. I never expected to fall for you, Shann. I admired you too much and didn't want to be vulnerable, to risk getting hurt by you, or worse, letting you down."

"Is that why you took so long to admit your feelings for me?"

"Yeah," she said almost in a whisper and then smiled. "You showed me what it is to be truly happy, that I can be truly happy without drugs. In a way that was even scarier than heroin."

Shannon laughed and pulled his chair to her side, held her in a tight hug and gave a strong kiss on her cheek. Melany responded by burying her face in the collar of his coat.

"I just don't understand one thing, Mel," he said when they were already walking outside, "how can you like it here so much if this city has made you so unhappy?"

She stopped walking in front of a building and turned to him, "My whole life is here, Shann. And I wasn't unhappy my entire life." She pointed to the entrance in front of them. "Do you want to see my house?"

"Do you still have an apartment here?" His eyes widened. "I thought you had sold it or something."

"I think I'm not ready yet to get rid of it." Melany said distracted while going through the revolving door and smiled at the doorman, who recognized her immediately and handed her the spare keys. "I wasn't expecting to come here, so I didn't bring my Keys," she explained to him.

"Not a problem, Miss. Bums. I've got some mail here for you, do you want it now?" Melany nodded, picked up the small stack of envelopes and walked toward the elevators with Shannon at her side.

"Twelfth," she said distracted and he pressed the number 12 while she opened one of the letters. As Melany read, a wrinkle formed and deepened between her eyebrows.

"Something wrong?" Shannon asked leaning against the mirror.

Melany shook her head slowly and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "My brother died."

"What?!" He held her shoulders. "You never told me you had a brother."

She shrugged and shook her head. "We haven't spoke since we were kids. He was older, he had a fight with my parents when I was about fifteen and he left home. When our parents died, he sent me a letter, I replied and we talked for a while, but soon it stopped. He lived in Texas, had a beautiful family..." Melany began to sob and he hugged her tightly.

They entered her apartment, which was still completely furnished, and Shannon sat on the nearest couch, taking the letter from her hand. "Do you want something, some water?"

Melany shook her head and tried to wipe her eyes." Just give me a few minutes, please." He kissed her forehead and walked into the kitchen to read the letter.

Allison, Melany's sister in law, had written in November to tell her abot the death of her husband, since Melany was the only family she knew existed. _"Michael loved you very much, and I'm really sorry that we never got a chance to meet, he spoke very highly of you, always bought your books. I don't know how you will react to this news, because I know you have had practically no contact after he left home. I hope you understand that, although he never sought you, you never stopped being his little sister, and I never had anything against you and your parents. I met Michael after their fight and I just respected his wish not to dredge up the past. I am not after money or fame, or anything else, I just want my children to have the chance to learn a little more about your side of the family. Mary is 10 years old and James is 5, they love to tell their friends in school that you are their aunt. Just think about it, Melany, please. You are invited to come spend some time here with us if you want to. The kids would love it."_

Shannon folded the paper and had to pull a chair to sit down. After all that Melany had told him, he couldn't even imagine what was going through her head. He thought of calling his brother or his mother, but did not feel entitled to talk about it with them. It was pretty obvious that none of them knew about Michael. He doubted that someday he himself would know if he wouldn't be with her when she received the news. He thought about what she had said before about him never speaking about his past to her, and how the truth was almost the reverse. "Mel, why do you hide so much?" He whispered to the kitchen cabinets.

A few minutes later, his phone rang with a message from Emma wondering where they were and saying that they should already be in the hotel, getting ready for the party. Shannon went into the living room and knelt in front of Melany, who had her eyes unfocused at some point beyond him. "Sweetie, are you okay?" She blinked a few times and gave a faint smile, nodding. "Melany," he cupped her face, "seriously, do you still want to go to the party?"

Her eyes widened, "the party! Of course I do, we are already late." She glanced at his watch and stood up, "let's go back to the hotel."

"Melany, the letter..."

"Shh," she turned to him and put a finger to his lips. "Let's not think about this, ok? We came to NY to Robert's party, so let's get ready."

All the way back to the hotel, and then to the building where the party was, Shannon watched Melany and wondered what he should do. Twice he opened his mouth to ask his mother for help but changed his mind. She was hiding it so well that he even began to doubt what had happened that late afternoon.

* * *

In the elevator, before reaching the last floor, Emma pulled Melany to the corner and squeezed her arm. "Thanks for the invite, Mel!" She was smiling. "I love Jared and love taking care of his life, but it's far more special to attend as a guest and not as his companion."

"You deserve to shine a little, Emma. I'm glad you're happy."

"Is my makeup okay?"

"Yes, silly, now try to smile a little."

Constance laughed at them and took Jared's arm, leaving the elevator with him when the doors opened. Emma left soon after, fixing her dress and smiling as much as she could without looking fake. Melany shook her head and laughed at her, looking at Shannon. He gave a weak smile and put his hand on her waist, leading her into the hall.

As soon as they took a few steps, some people came to talk to Jared and Constance, praising them. Emma was lost among the other guests and Melany pulled back a bit with Shannon, greeting a few people along the way and taking him by the hand to an empty table.

"Will you go on pretending that nothing happened?" He asked with a worried expression, she sighed and closed her eyes.

"Forget this for now, please."

"But, Mel," Shannon grabbed her wrist and she twisted her arm, getting rid of him, "you're not okay."

"Please, Shannon. I really appreciate your concern, but now is not the time for that." She got up and went to meet Robert, who looked at them from the center of the room and opened his arms as she stood up.

"Melany" He hugged and kissed each side of her face. "Is everything all right there with the bad wolf?" He asked, making her laugh.

"It is, no need to worry. I apologize for it, in fact, he's not feeling very well."

"Oh, too bad."

Melany smiled, poiting at Jared and Constance in another corner. "Have you talked to those two?"

"Constance Leto, gorgeous woman, she draws more attention than her son! Speaking on son, come, I want to introduce you to my family."

A few minutes later, Melany had lost sight of Shannon and was totally focused on the stories Robert was telling her and on the other artists she was meeting. She caught a glimpse of Emma talking to some producers and was pleased to see that her friend was smiling for real.

"Cam! Was looking for you! Have you met Melany?" Robert asked, drawing her attention back. Another woman said something, but when Melany looked, she was gone.

"Who was she looking for?"

"Chris. Evans. You know, Captain." Robert gestured trying to imitate a shield.

"I know," Melany smiled absently, craning her neck to try to look at the woman, "I know, yes. Is she his girlfriend?"

Robert sighed. "You didn't know she would be here, did you?" She shrugged and finished the champagne she was holding in one gulp. "Riding Hood, you see," he put an arm around her shoulders and led her to a quieter corner. "I don't know exactly what happened between you, but I'm sure that was a big misunderstanding. Cam is totally in love with Evans, I assure you..."

"Melany." Shannon stopped what Robert was saying and grabbed her arm tightly.

"What the fuck, Shannon?!" She asked in a quiet tone, trying to get loose.

"I think it's time to go, come on."

"And I think," Robert stood in front of him and made him drop her arm, "she's old enough to make decisions on her own."

Shannon licked his lips and shook his head, looking around to make sure nobody was watching the scene. He gave one last look at Melany and walked away, snorting.

"My God, Robert, I'm so sorry for that!" She covered her mouth with her hands. "What a disaster."

"It's okay, Mel. Do you want to go? I can ask for a driver..."

"Not at all," Melany shook her head. "I mean, if I can stay here after this scene."

"For God's sake, don't talk nonsense! You _must_ stay here." He looked at his watch. "Especially now, since there are only about thirty minutes to midnight."

She smiled. "Thank you. I think I'll get some air."

"You do that. And try to solve things with the wolf, huh? Apologize for me." Robert walked away and left Melany laughing alone.

When she turned to look for Shannon, Melany saw him talking with Camila, she was holding his shoulder. "Yes, Robert, I'm sure she's dying in love with Chris," she muttered, stomped up to the edge of the roof, where there were people smoking, took a cigarette from her purse and started to fight against the wind to light it. "Shit!"

"Need help?" Someone held a lighter in front of her, shielding the flame with the other hand. She lit her cigarette and shook her head to get the hair from her face.

"Thank you," Melany froze when he saw who it was. "Oh, fuck."

He smiled, blowing the smoke and reaching out for her. "Chris Evans."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "Melany Bums," she shook his hand.

"This Shannon guy is your boyfriend, then?"

"Only if you this Camila person is your girlfriend." They laughed and shrank more within their coats when the wind blew stronger. "Look, I have nothing against her, really. She just seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time all the time."

"Shannon too, but I'm sure he's a great guy," he sneered, and she laughed.

"He is." Chris agreed and they finished smoking in silence. "How long have you been together?" She asked.

"A while."

"And is it serious?"

"We're living together."

"Wow."

He smiled. "What about you?"

"I dedicated my lastest book to him," Melany smiled back.

"Well, looks like we're lost."

"I would say the same. Do you love her?"

Chris looked at her serious and took a while to answer. "As much as you love him, I imagine."

Melany sighed and looked at her watch, it was fifteen minutes to midnight. "Are they still talking?"

"They're looking at us, do you think we should go there?"

She turned and laughed at the situation. "We should, but can I get your number first?"

"Are you trying to make them jealous?" Chris put his hand on his chest laughing.

"No!" Melany laughed along. "I think we should do something, the four of us. It's clear that they get along very well, I'd rather try to be friends with you than continue to be jealous."

"Yeah, you're right." They exchanged their numbers and walked to where Shannon and Camila were. Melany put her hand on Shannon's arm, feeling a little awkward. "Cam," Chris was the first to speak, "I want to introduce my friend Melany."

"Shannon, this is my friend Chris," Melany continued. They were silent for a few moments until she looked back to Camila. "I'm sorry about everything..."

"No, it's all right," Camila answered before she could finish. "Seriously. I understand." They both smiled relieved and looked at their pairs, waiting.

"I was talking to Melany about it and we could meet up and get to know better." Chris told Shannon.

"Yeah, that would be nice," he gave a small smile and put his arm around Melany.

"It's almost midnight, let's grab something to drink and do this the right way!" Chris pushed Camilla in and they disappeared among the other guests.

Melany and Shannon stared until she stepped forward and kissed him lightly. "I'm fine, Shann," she smiled. "I won't worry until I have to worry."

He opened his mouth to answer, but Jared, Constance and Emma appeared with five glasses. "There you are," Constance gave a glass to Melany while Jared did the same to his brother. "It's almost time, we'll watch the fireworks from here!" Moments later, everyone started counting down the last ten seconds, Melany and threw her arms around Shannon's neck.

"I love you," she whispered in his ear.

"I love you too, Mel," he replied with a smile.

"THREE, TWO, ONE... HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

They started the new year with a kiss, and soon the others came to hug them.


	16. Intervention

He grabbed her by the waist and threw her back on the bed, placing himself between her legs and running his fingers through her legs. Melany parted her lips and closed her eyes, throwing her head back. "Shannon," she moaned, "we're already late." In response, he gently kissed the sensitive skin where her legs joined, playing with his tongue. He raised his eyes full of malice towards her when he felt her shudder. "Baby, I'm serious," she sighed and looked at him with ease.

"Ask me to stop and I will," he pulled one side of his mouth in a smile and went back to what he was doing when she laughed and threw her legs over his shoulders, inviting him to continue.

An hour later they were in the shower, running against time.

"We can't do this anymore," Melany said washing her hair.

Shannon bent over her and kissed her shoulder, "but I thought you liked to wake up like this."

"I love waking up like this," she smiled and kissed his chest, "but we are becoming that insufferable teenage couple who just lost their virginity and are always late for everything." Shannon had to lean against the wall to laugh, and she shrugged smiling as she left the bath and stepped into the soft bathroom rug. "What? It's true!"

"Let me drive, then." Shannon turned off the water and took the towel she handed him.

"No way. It's my car, and you drive like a lunatic," Melany kissed him and entered the room wearing her bathrobe.

"You drive faster than me, honey!"

"It's still my car," she shouted back.

They stopped at Starbucks to grab some breakfast and ate on their way to the house, where Jared and Tomo waited for Shannon for one of the last rehearsals before the next and final leg of the tour. They were already halfway through January, and the first reading and signing section Melany would do would be the next day, in Los Angeles. Shannon would be there in the first dates, but at the end of the month he would board with the band to Russia. Melany planned to finish her tour and meet them in Singapore, at the end of February.

She parked in the garage, and they went into the garden, where Emma walked around the pool talking on her phone. She smiled and gave a brief nod to them, still focusing on her conversation. They passed through the glass door and down the hall, walking to the living room in front of the house where Jared and Tomo were laughing in front of a laptop.

"There you go, he's all yours," Melany joked sitting in an armchair and turning the car keys on her fingers.

"Finally!" Tomo laughed and stood up, hugging them. "I'll call Vicki real quick and I'll meet you in the back."

"Sorry I'm late, Jay," Shannon said to his brother. "I'll just leave my stuff in the room." He bent to kiss Melany and ran upstairs.

Jared nodded and waited until Shannon was out of sight to turn at Melany with an angry look. "He used to be on time before you start dating, you know?"

She smiled and crossed the room to lay on the couch beside him. "Good morning, brother. Is my best friend out there somewhere?" She poked his belly.

"I'm always here, dear," he spoke in a easier tone and kissed the top of her head.

"What were you laughing?" She tried to spy on the laptop.

"VyRT. If they only knew how much we lurk!" He put the computer aside and put an arm around her shoulders, smiling. "When's the big day?"

"Tomorrow," Melany said visibly nervous.

"It will be fine, no need to be so nervous," he ran a hand through her arm.

"You know I hate to read in public, Jared. If I liked to appear in public, I wouldn't write for a living."

He laughed and stood up, putting her hair behind her ears. "Will you sleep here tonight?"

"Yeah, it's easier for Shann to go with me on the first nights."

Jared crouched in front of her and began to laugh. "Are you really that insecure?!"

"Don't be an asshole," she pushed his shoulder lightly.

"I'm sorry!" He held her hands still laughing. "Will there be a place for me in the audience?"

Melany smiled. "Really? I thought you were going to be too busy with other things."

"How many times will I have to invite myself until you do it for me?" She threw herself into his arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She got up on her feet. "Tell Shannon I had some errands to run, I'll be back later."

Soon after she left, Shannon came downstairs, and the brothers went together to the studio behind the house. As he passed the garden, Jared called Emma and asked her to rearrange his entire schedule for the next day so he could go to the Melany's reading.

* * *

The lights were all turned to her, it was difficult to distinguish the people sitting in front of her. That first night was the most important, the biggest launching event of her book, taking place not in a bookstore, but in a small auditorium at UCLA. How her agent had accomplished that she had no idea, but the opportunity came up almost last minute and she didn't think twice before approving the event. She didn't know how Jared could face crowds thousands of times larger than that every night without getting nervous. Melany knew that once she had started she would lose the fear; the problem was to begin. Shannon, Jared and Emma were sitting in the front row, looking at her with encouraging smiles. She had to control herself not to look at them, otherwise she would lose all composure and let the nerves take over.

Forcing a smile, she sat on the chair and thanked everybody for being there - the vast majority students, who were, she knew, her greatest readers. She took the book of one of the piles on the table beside her and looked at the volume in hardcover with sincere curiosity, analyzing the cover and back art.

"I'm sorry, it's the first time I see this little monster printed," she spoke a bit shy and was surprised when everyone laughed. "The cover looks really good, doesn't it?" She smiled, lifting the book for all to see. "Okay, let's do this then." She opened the first page and read the title of the book looking at the lights in front of her, _"Buried."_ He turned to the dedication and read it with a smile, keeping her eyes glued on paper, _"For you, Shannon , for helping me finish this book. Thank you. Love is love reflected." _She finished with embarrassment.

Some of them whistled and giggled, making Shannon smile and cringe at his chair when Emma nudged him, and Melany visibly blush under the lights. She took a sip from the water bottle on the table and continued.

_"The place was dark, damp and stank of urine. A coughing fit took over Thomas when he entered the room, forcing him to cover his nose and mouth with the collar of his shirt before he could go on. It was only when he fell silent that he could hear the faint breathing and gasps coming from somewhere. He ran to the sound, dodging rotten cardboard boxes and lighting the way with one of the old flashlights that Caleb found upstairs. What he saw under the stairs left him paralyzed._

"_Alexia was dropped - there was no other way to describe the disposition of her body, bent at impossible angles, half naked, with little clothing she had left torn and filthy. Her hair fell over her face in tangled and dirty strands. With much luck, they had only beat her up; most of her skin was covered by dark wounds still open and bleeding spots. The girl did not move, and Thomas had to struggle to stay focused on the weak noise she made to breathe, the only indication that she was still alive."_

Melany continued to read until the end of the first chapter, closing the book to the applause of her audience. "Thank you! Thank you so much. I think we'll make a ten-minute break for me to stop shaking," laughing, she looked at her agent, who nodded, "and then continue with the autographs." She got off the stage and was almost running behind the curtain, where Shannon, Jared and Emma were already waiting.

"Mel!" They shouted at the same time and ran up to her, who smiled with relief and threw herself into her boyfriend's arms.

"Sweetie, you rocked!" Shannon hugged her tight and kissed her cheek.

"Really?" She shook her hands, "Shit, I can't stop shaking."

Jared laughed and ruffled her hair, while Emma pulled her into a hug. "Really," she replied. "We are so proud of you!"

"Congratulations, darling," it was time for Jared to hug her. "I'm glad I was here to witness this."

"Thanks, guys," Melany felt her eyes burn and began fanning them with her hands, trying hard not to cry.

"Let's celebrate after the signing?" Shannon wanted to confirm with the others.

"Oh," Jared shook his hand, "we don't want to get in your way. I'm sure you have plans already."

"Jared, please," Melany rolled her eyes.

He smiled, "okay then."

"I'll try to get a last minute table somewhere," Emma said and walked away with her phone in hand.

Melany returned to the stage, where they had already replaced her seat with a bigger table, sat down in the chair behind it and began to talk to her readers, one by one. The whole time she felt Shannon looking by the side of the curtain, and sometimes she looked back, smiling embarrassed. It took just over an hour to sign all copies of the people who got in line and take pictures with them all. After that, they went straight to a restaurant.

* * *

The water came down so easily that she finished the whole bottle in three big gulps. Melany quickly lost her nervousness, but her throat didn't seem to get used to the readings. Never in her life she had liked water so much. Shannon shook her shoulders lightly as she threw the plastic bottle in the trash. That night would be the last section he would attend, as the band was leaving for Russia the next morning. She was extremely grateful for all the support that he had been showing from the beginning, since they had those long night talks about the story and its characters. She doubted that she would have made it to where she was at that moment if not for him, at least not that sober.

She returned to the table in the center of the bookstore and started signing copies of her book, talking, smiling and taking pictures with everybody. About forty minutes later, she saw that it was almost over, and allowed herself to stretch her legs under the table when she took the last book.

The woman standing in front of her was twisting the handles of her purse in her hands with a mixture of anxiety and nervous that Melany recognized often in herself. She smiled at the blonde sympathetically and turned the cover.

"What's your name?" She asked looking at the paper.

"Allison," the woman replied in a low voice. Melany raised her brow at her, hoping to have heard it wrong. "Hi, Melany," she continued with a nervous smile.

When Melany didn't respond, Allison looked at Shannon in a corner and shrugged not knowing what to do. Melany followed her gaze and saw that he was walking toward them.

"Tell me you had nothing to do with this," she stood up surprised at how calm she sounded.

"Mel, you need to talk to her." Shannon said with his arms in front of him, as if she were attacking any of them.

Melany closed her eyes and swallowed hard, forcing a smile. "Allison," she said while writing the name on the book and signing it, then closing the cover. "Here," she extended the copy back to her. "Thank you for coming here, but I'm afraid you've lost your time if you were hoping to talk to me about my brother."

Allison took a deep breath and nodded. "I understand, Mel. Can I call you Mel?"

"Whatever," she shrugged.

"Okay. Anyway, I will stay in Los Angeles for a few days, if you change your mind and want to talk. Shannon has my number."

"Of course he does," she said without smiling. "You haven't brought the kids, have you?"

"Oh, no. No, they stayed with my parents in Texas."

Melany nodded in approval as the other woman walked away. "Allison!" She shouted and ran after her, catching up on the sidewalk. They stared at each other for a few seconds until Melany spoke. "Thanks for writing me that letter."

"Of course." Tiffany smiled and left.

Shannon was next to the bookstore door and tried to hold Melany when she passed quickly by him. "Mel, talk to me!"

"You have some nerves to arrange all of this, haven't you?" She spoke in a firm but low voice. "I'm not doing this here, let's go."

* * *

"Who gave you the right to do this?" Melany screamed in a corner of the room.

"You expected me to cross my arms and do nothing?!" Shannon was sitting on the couch at the foot of the bed.

"I expected you to respect my choice," she cried. "I told you I was okay, would it hurt for you to believe me?"

"But it wasn't okay, Melany. You're a great actress, but I can hear you crying at night. I couldn't keep pretending too."

She slid against the wall and sat on the floor facing him. "I don't want to meet his family, Shann."

"Why?"

"Because..." Melany hugged her knees and covered her eyes with her hands. "He abandoned me."

"What do you mean?" He got up and sat beside her.

"Michael was ten years older than me, but he was my best friend. Our parents were horrible to us, you have to understand that." She sobbed. "We grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, for years they wouldn't let us go to school or do anything that would make us have to go out and see the world outside the fences. Our father was always beating Michael up, every day, and mom did nothing, because he would beat her up too. They raised us to keep the farm when they died, nothing more. Almost every night we could hear dad drinking downstairs, complaining to the walls about how we both have ruined their lives, asking God to take us away."

"Did he ever lay a hand on you?"

"No, never. Michael would get in the way and when dad was finished with him he didn't have the strength to hit me."

"So Michael kind of raised you?"

"He taught me how to read and write," she smiled. "Mike taught me all I knew until he left."

Shannon wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her to his chest. "Why did he leave?"

"He was 25, couldn't stand that situation anymore. I was so angry at him for leaving me, we had his whole plan of leaving together. We used to go through the maps at night and he would talk on and on about going to Texas."

"Why did he go alone?"

"I never knew. One day I woke up with my dad howling in rage, and I discovered that Mike was gone. I cried every night for a year, waiting for him to come back, but it never happened. So I started to build a story in my head, I imagined that he had gone ahead of me to see what it was like and he would come back for me later, but eventually he died on the way."

"Jesus." Shannon stroked her hair.

"It was the first story I wrote, actually. I used to scribble at night on some used papers that I collected and hid it under a loose board under my bed." Melany smiled at the memory. "Anyway, in my head Mike had died. It was only when our parents died and he sent me the first letter that I learned what had happened to him."

"Did you forgive him?"

Melany shrugged and sighed heavily. "It didn't mattered anymore, Shannon. We were already different people, twenty years had passed."

They were silent for a while, until Shannon spoke again. "How did you leave the farm?"

"When I was nineteen my parents were already getting careless. One night I build up the courage, managed to get out through the bedroom window and walked away."

"To New York?" She nodded. "I'm afraind to ask, but how did you survive?"

"Not everything is a tragedy," she smiled. "Mike used to tell me that, and he was right. A lady found me at a convenience store at a gas station off I-80. Mrs. Bethany Bums was a teacher in New York and was returning home from a trip to Cleveland."

"Bums..."

"Yeah. She adopted me, we changed my name a few years later. She died shortly after I published my first book." Melany wiped her eyes.

Shannon sighed and stroked her cheeks. "I don't know you at all, Mel."

"You do, Shannon," she turned to him. "You don't know about my past because I don't like to talk about it with anyone. Not even Jared knows about Michael, the only thing he knows is that Bethy wasn't my real mom. But you know who I am, I'm right here in front of you."

He kissed her fondly, feeling her face wet with tears. "I'm sorry for going after Allison, I know that I have nothing to do with it. But I listened to what she has to say, and I think you should too."

"Maybe."

"Can I ask a few more things?" Shannon asked and continued when she agreed. "Did you speak to your parentes after you left?"

"I did. My mother called me one day, said she was hiding from my father, and she would have to talk fast, before he returned. She must have gotten my number with the publisher, or whatever."

"What did she want?"

"She wanted to say she was sorry." She shrugged, "I accepted it, but she never called back."

"Until the accident?"

"Yeah. They were driving to this town nearby and their pickup truck crashed off a bridge. They said it was an accident, but you never know. Soon after that Mike wrote me and Jared showed up."

"Do you think Jared went after you because he heard of the accident?"

"He never told me, but I bet it was. I would have gone after him if the situation were reversed."

Shannon hugged her tight and kissed her forehead. "Not everything is a tragedy," he murmured.

"No, not everything is," Melany nodded and snuggled into his arms, falling asleep.


	17. Kids

Melany parked outside the coffee shop and stood there for what seemed to be an eternity, trying to calm her nerves so she could finally go inside. She jumped scared when her phone buzzed on her pocket.

"_Just landed in Russia, I'm dead tired. Did you call Allison? Be safe, babe. I love you."_

Smiling, she answered: _"I'm meeting her right now, tell you all about it later. __Wish me luck! Love you, get some rest."_

She then took a deep breath and got out of her car and into the cafe. The place wasn't crowded and she was able to find her sister in law in an instant. Alisson was sitting by herself in one of the tables next to the wall, as far from the front door as possible. She was facing the street and could have easily seen Melany coming in, but was focused on her coffee cup with a lost expression that made Melany's spine shiver as she got closer.

"Allison?" She almost whispered.

The other woman raised her head and smiled, looking nervous. "Call me Alli," she said, indicating the chair in front of her.

"Right," Melany sat down, keeping her purse on her lap.

"I'm really glad you called me, Mel."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about the other day." She sighed and looked at the counter. "I just wasn't expecting to see you at all. And Shannon shouldn't have..."

"He cares a lot about you," Allisson interrupted and then shrugged. "He wouldn't have asked me to come here if he didn't care."

Her phone buzzed again and she saw it was another message from Shannon. "Speaking of him... Do you mind? I'll get some coffee and answer him real quick."

"No, go ahead."

Melany smiled and walked to the counter to order her coffee and text Shannon back. When she returned to the table, Allison was still sitting on the same position. "So, really, why did you come looking for me?"

"I told you on that letter, I want my kids to have someone from your side of the family present in their lives."

"Why did he never look for me?" Melany cut her off with another question, realizing she sounded a little rude. "I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. You say he always spoke highly of me, but why did he abandoned me and never even looked back?"

Allison took a sip of her coffee and smiled, playing with the wedding ring she still had on her finger. "He didn't know how to."

"Oh, come on!"

"It's true, Mel. Michael was so very proud of you, of everything you've had accomplished. He wanted to keep your memory alive, he wanted the kids to know who you were. I used to tell him that we should go visit you in NY, that maybe if he saw you he would feel better. Because, you know, he never stopped blaming himself for leaving you. He wanted to reach you, but he wasn't sure how you would react. In fact, one time we actually bought plane tickets to go to New York, but he changed his mind hours before our plane was supposed to take off." Melany felt her eyes starting to burn and did her best to hold back the tears. "Michael was a great husband and a wonderful father, it was a terrible thing having him taken away from us so soon. He loved his life, but I know that the only thing he regretted was not going after you. So that's mostly the reason why I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to do this for him, to make sure you knew how much he loved you."

"Shit, Alli," Melany looked away and sighed. "I'll tell you what. I want to get to know you, okay? And the kids. What are their names again?"

"Mary and James."

"Mary and James, right," Melany laughed. "I'm not good with kids, actually, but I want to give this a try."

"Really?" Allison reached for her hands across the table. "It would mean a lot to Michael… To me."

"Yeah, really." She smiled and felt comfortable doing it. "How long are you staying in town?"

"Just a few more days."

"Do you want to stay over my place?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to get in your way, Melany."

"Nonsense. Also, it's a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better."

"Well, yeah. Thank you."

"Let's see how this works and then we can think of a date for you to bring the kids. Also, I don't want to do this without Shannon and Jared around. Is that okay?"

"Fine. But why do you want them to be around?"

Melany shrugged and felt her cheeks blushing. "They are better than me with kids. I wouldn't feel so pressured if they were here."

* * *

Jared came around the pool and sat beside her watching as she put her cigarette off when she realized he was there. "Don't do this because of me."

"It's okay, I know you don't like it." Melany blew off what was left of the smoke and leaned against the pool chair. "How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't. What are you doing down here?"

"I couldn't sleep. And I wanted to talk to you, but I figured you weren't alone in your room, so…" She smiled as he did the same. "Anyone special?"

"Not really. Is everything okay?"

"Sure, I just need to tell you something."

"About Michael?" He went on smiling at her surprise, "Shannon told me."

"He is virtually incapable of keeping a secret, isn't he?"

"He was worried about you, what did you expect him to do?" Melany shook her head and he continued. "Anyway, did you talk to you sister in law?"

"I did. She's pretty nice. I actually had her staying in my place for a couple of days."

"You did not!" Jared acted shocked and they both laughed.

"Oh, c'mon. I'm not always a jerk." They stood there in silence for a while, staring at the pool as the lights on the bottom changed their colors. Melany broke the silence. "Hey, are you mad at me for not telling you about my brother?"

"I have to say I wasn't happy when I heard about it. But I understand why you did what you did, so... I just wish you would have trusted me."

"I'm sorry, Jared."

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "It's okay. But how did it go with Allison?"

"It went great! She want me to meet her kids... my nephews." Melany finished as if trying the word out for the first time.

"How do you feel about that?"

"Well, you know how I feel about kids. I really want to meet them, but I'm so fucking nervous!"

"Don't be! You are going to love them!"

"That's actually what I was going to talk to you about."

"Oops," he raised his eyebrows and tried to look serious.

"Do you think it would be okay for them to go to Shannon's birthday party?"

"Yeah, why not? By the way, is the party still a secret or do you think he suspects?"

Melany shrugged, "I think he already figured out."

"Well, let's keep acting like he doesn't know."

"Mmhm," Melany agreed and stretched her arms. "Can we go to bed now? I hate the early flights."

They got up and walked around the pool, going back to their rooms. The next day they would take an early flight from Singapore back to Los Angeles. Shannon's birthday was only a week away.


End file.
